A fresh FIR was registered against the three owners of 1Above pub in Kamala Mills on Friday for allegedly cheating their employees of their provident fund money.
The trio, Kripesh and Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar, was arrested earlier this month in connection with the fire that broke out in Mojo’s Bistro next to 1Above in the early hours of December 29. The fire engulfed the pub and killed 14 people, including a woman who was celebrating her birthday.
Gross negligence
The police found gross negligence in following fire safety norms at the pub and charged the trio with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under the Indian Penal Code.
According to NM Joshi Marg police, the fresh complaint was registered against the trio on Friday after the provident fund department approached the police and filed a complaint against them.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VIII) Virendra Mishra said, “The PF department, while examining the documents of the pub, found that the owners had taken out some part of their employees’ salary as their contribution towards PF, but did not deposit the amount in their PF accounts.”
The police booked the trio for criminal breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code along with relevant sections of the Provident Fund Act.
Senior Police Inspector Ahmed Pathan, N.M. Joshi Marg police station, said, “Around 100 employees have been cheated of ₹8.65 lakh. We are conducting further investigations into the matter.”
Finding the money trail
The police are likely to seek custody of the three owners, who are currently in judicial custody. They will be interrogated regarding the complaint against them and to find out what the money that they fraudulently took was used for. The bank accounts of the trio will also be examined to find out the trail of money, sources said.
The trio, who had been absconding since the day of the fire, was arrested from different parts of Mumbai in the early hours of January 11 this year. They were first remanded in police custody and then sent to judicial custody by the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Bhoiwada.
