Mumbai Kamala Mills fire: ‘1Above’ managers remanded to judicial custody till January 22

Mumbai: The two managers of 1Above — Lisbon Lopez and Kevin Bawa — have been remanded to judicial custody until January 22. They were produced before the Bhoiwada court since their police custody ended on Tuesday. Lopez and  Bawa were arrested on December 31 by the NM Joshi Marg police, two days after the fire that killed 14 people in Kamala Mills Compound.

Sanjay Wadhwane, public prosecutor, said before the court that he had completed the duo’s questioning. According to Suryakant Naikode, investigating officer in the case, “We will seek the police custody of Lopez and Bawa at a later stage for joint questioning  after we arrest Kripesh Sanghvi and Jigar Sanghvi, owners of ‘1Above’  and their partner Abhijit Mankar.

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 “It is possible that the Sanghvi’s might accuse the managers for the deaths and claim that they were not at the spot. In that case, we would need to question the Sanghvis in presence of the managers. If the two get bail, the Sanghvi’s might claim that they are as innocent and might apply for anticipatory bail,” he added.

Advocate Vijay Thakur,  representing Lopez and Bawa, said, “We have  already moved for bail on the grounds that the police had competed their questioning and did not need the two. The two managers have helped the patrons who were trapped at 1Above and rescued them from the fire instead of running away. The staff members of 1Above who died in the fire were rushed by the duo to the hospital.” Their lawyer also claimed that the duo saw the Sanghvi’s at the spot on the night of the fire.

“We stay in America and did not even know that Kevin was working in this restaurant. Kevin was not a permanent employee and working there only since the past 2 months,” said Kevin’s brother-in-law.