Kamala Mills fire: 1Above owners cheated 100 employees of Rs8.65 lakh, held

Mumbai police said this case, the second that has been registered against the trio, was filed on January 19

The NM Joshi Marg police arrested the owners of 1Above restaurant — Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar — on Thursday, for not depositing money in 100 employees’ provident fund (PF) accounts. Police said the owners cheated these employees of Rs8.65 lakh between May and November 2017.

The Kamala Mills fire, which broke out on December 29, killed 14 people and injured 55.(HT File Photo)

Police said this case, the second that has been registered against the trio, was filed on January 19, after a PF inspector approached the NM Joshi Marg police. The inspector began investigating the matter following the December 29 Kamala Mills fire. He told police that the trio had not paid their employees the PF amount — a salary component of every employee’s cost to company (CTC).

An officer said the police also investigated and confirmed that this was the case.

“The three were lodged in Arthur Road jail. We brought them to the police station and rearrested them,” said Ahmed Pathan, senior inspector, NM Joshi Marg police station.

The trio were booked under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the Indian Penal Code and section 14 of Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Act 1952.They were produced in a Bhoiwada court and remanded in police custody.

The Bhoiwada court had earlier remanded the trio in judicial custody, along with Mojo’s Bistro owners Yug Pathak and Yug Tuli.

So far, the police have booked 12 people for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in connection with the fire that killed 14 people and injured 55.