Mumbai court remands Kamala Mills director, fire brigade officer, hookah company owner to police custody till 25 January

Mumbai: Three persons, who were arrested on Saturday in connection with the fire at a pub in the Kamala Mills Compound in Mumbai that claimed 14 lives, have been sent to police custody till 25 January. The NM Joshi Marg police had on Saturday evening arrested Ravi Bhandari, a partner in the Kamala Mills, station fire officer Rajendra Patil, and Utkarsh Pandey, the owner of the Nirvana Hookah, in connection with the incident. [caption id=“attachment_4280773” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Fourteen people died in the Kamala Mills fire. AFP[/caption] The three were produced on Sunday afternoon before the Bhoiwada court which remanded them in police custody till 25 January, senior police inspector Ahmed Pathan said. The arrests were made on Saturday evening after Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta submitted his report to the chief minister in which he mentioned factors which caused the tragedy in December 2017. The owners of the ‘1 Above’ pub, Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar, as well as owners of the adjoining ‘Mojo’s Bistro’, Yug Pathak and Yug Tulli, are already arrested. According to the enquiry report submitted by Mehta, the fire on 29 December started because of the flying charcoal embers from hookah which was illegally served at Mojo’s Bistro. It then spread to ‘1 Above’. Most of the deceased were visiting ‘1 Above’. The owners of both the pubs were booked for ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ and other offences under the Indian Penal Code. The municipal commissioner’s report said the owners of Kamala Mills allowed illegal alterations and usage of terrace by the two pubs. It also said that a departmental inquiry will be conducted against some fire brigade officials for lapses in duty.