A day after his arrest in connection with the fire at the Kamala Mills compound in south-central Mumbai, a city court on Sunday remanded Yug Pathak, son of a retired IPS officer and one of the joint owners of the Mojo’s Bistro Lounge, in police custody till January 12.
Pathak — who has been booked on charges of sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions of IPC – was produced before a holiday court which sent him to police custody till Friday next.
Pathak’s arrest had come in the wake of the submission an inquiry report by the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MBT), which had investigated the December 29 Kamala Mills compound fire.
The MBT had among other things stated in its report that the fire originated from Mojo’s Bistro and not 1 Above casual dining restaurant and that the bodies of all those killed in the mishap were found in the bathroom of 1 Above which shared the terrace with Mojo’s. Before his arrest, Phatak had been questioned twice by the police.
Pathak is one of the partners of Mojo’s, the others being Yug Tuli, Tirupati Restaurants and Cafe Pvt Ltd, Pritina Shreshtha and Soumil Shringarpure.
The city police have also registered a case against Yug Tulli sections 304, 338 and other relevant sections of IPC. A civil case had earlier been registered under Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act for land use violations. Tuli is a businessman from Nagpur.
It may be recalled that 14 persons were killed and 55 others were injured in the massive fire that ripped Mojo’s Bistro lounge, neighbouring 1 Above casual dining restaurant and London Taxi Gastro pub at Trade House.
A day after the mishap, the police had filed three first information reports against at least two of the pubs. The Mojo’s Bistro and 1Above and Ramesh Govani, the owner of the Kamala Mills Compound at Lower Parel in north-central Mumbai, where posh corporate offices and high-end pubs and restaurants are located.
The police have so far arrested two managers of 1Above pub – Kevin Bawa and Gibson Lopez, and two others — Rakesh Sanghavi and cousin Aditya Sanghavi, the relatives of the two absconding accused.