Mumbai: The Bhoiwada court on Sunday remanded Yug Pathak, one of the two owners of Mojo’s Bistro that was gutted in the Kamala Mills fire, in police custody till January 12.
The second owner is absconding and efforts are being made to apprehend him, police said. The bistro was located adjacent to the ill-fated restaurant 1 Above, where 14 people died in the blaze on December 29.
On Friday, the fire brigade had said in its report that the blaze started in Mojo’s and not in 1 Above, possibly due to embers from a live coal meant for a hookah. Mr. Pathak is the son of former Pune Commissioner of Police KK Pathak. The other partner, Yug Tuli, lives in Nagpur. Police said they sought his custody to further investigate the fire.
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On Saturday, Mr. Pathak and Mr. Tuli had been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other provisions. Initially, the police had only booked partners in 1Above, who are on the run. A police officer said, “They’ve switched off their phones deleted their Facebook accounts.” Till date, five FIRs have been registered in the case.
On January 1, police arrested two managers of 1 Above, Kevin Bawa (35) and Lisbon Lopez (34), who were remanded in police custody by the court till January 9. The managers face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. On Wednesday, 1 Above’s owners had issued statements saying the fire broke out at Mojo’s, and wrote to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister seeking their intervention.
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The BMC on Sunday demolished several restaurants in Bandra (West) and Andheri (West). In Bandra, BMC teams took action against Café Bandra and Laguna Bar as part of a larger drive after the Kamala Mills fire to demolish illegal structures erected by restaurants, bars and cafes. According to BMC officers, Laguna Bar had 2,000 sq.ft. of unauthorised constructions, while Café Bandra had 600 sq.ft.