Mahim AC blast: Maintenance firm owner arrested for culpable homicide

The blast occurred on Friday evening in the outdoor unit of an air-conditioner at a cloud kitchen operated by Rebel Foods, located near Mahim railway station. The kitchen supplies food to platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, and EatSure

MUMBAI: A day after a powerful explosion at a cloud kitchen in Mahim killed one and injured seven others—one of them critically—the police on Saturday arrested the owner of an air-conditioner maintenance firm on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Mahim AC blast: Maintenance firm owner arrested for culpable homicide

The blast occurred on Friday evening in the outdoor unit of an air-conditioner at a cloud kitchen operated by Rebel Foods, located near Mahim railway station. The kitchen supplies food to platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, and EatSure.

According to the police, the explosion took place while a team from Crystal Aircon, a private AC repair firm, was conducting maintenance work on the kitchen’s malfunctioning air-conditioning system. The unit had reportedly been failing to maintain the required temperature for food storage and dispatch, prompting the kitchen’s manager to raise a complaint with the firm.

Ashok Naik, 52, owner of Crystal Aircon and a resident of Kandivali, arrived at the site along with four employees—Noor Alam Ahmed Ali Shaikh, 38, Pravin Kumar Pujari, 28, Mukesh Gupta, 25, and Shivmohan Pal, 26. After detecting a gas leak in two of the outdoor AC units, the team began refilling the compressors using nitrogen and oxygen cylinders they had brought along, said a police officer.

At some point during the repairs, Naik briefly left the scene for tea. Moments later, one of the compressors exploded with such force that Shaikh, who was standing closest to the unit, died instantly. His body was mutilated in the blast. Pujari suffered severe burn injuries and remains in critical condition, while Gupta sustained serious injuries to his eyes and head. Pal escaped with minor injuries.

The explosion also injured four employees of the cloud kitchen: Deepali Gholapkar, Shreedevi Bandhiodhe, Sana Ansari, and Kamlesh Jaiswal. All injured persons were rushed to Sion Hospital for treatment.

A fire brigade team later extinguished the blaze that broke out following the explosion. “Naik has been arrested and booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 289 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery), 288 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substances), and 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023,” said a senior officer from Mahim police station.

“His workers were neither trained nor equipped with safety gear, which directly led to the tragedy,” the officer added.