Kamala Mills fire case: Owners of compound discharged, others to face trial

The blaze had broken out at around 12.30am at 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro restaurants, which were located at Kamala Mills Compound in 2017

A Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday discharged the two owners of Kamala Mills compound -- Ramesh Gowani and Ravi Bhandari – who were booked after a fire had broken out at a restaurant in Kamla Mills compound on December 29, 2017, which led to the death of 14 diners and several people being injured.

Representational photo.(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

However, the court refused to discharge the owners of the restaurants, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and the other accused.

The blaze had broken out at around 12.30am at 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro restaurants, which were located at Kamala Mills Compound.

The investigation revealed that the fire had initially broken in 1Above due to Hookah embers and later spread to Mojo’s Bistro.

Altogether, 14 people were booked by the Mumbai Police, which included the owners of the restaurants and their employees, BMC officials, and the owners of Kamala Mills Compound.

Prakash Shetty, special public prosecutor, said the court discharged Gowani and Bhandari on Tuesday.

Earlier, the duo had claimed that they should not be booked for the incident, as they had no connection with it.

The other accused had also approached the court for discharge.

The accused include two managers of 1Above, Lisbon Lopes and Kevin Bawa; hotelier Vishal Kariya; the owners of 1Above restaurant Kripesh Mansukh Sanghavi and Jigar Mansukh Sanghavi: the owner of the Mojo’s Bistro pub Yug Ravindrapal Singh Tuli; fire officer, Rajendra Baban Patil; sub-engineer G/South ward of the BMC, Dinesh Yashwant Mahale; and assistant divisional fire officer (Worli division) Sandeep Shivaji Shinde.

All the accused had challenged the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder along with other charges.

The prosecution had contended that the accused failed to abide by the law and also cited several irregularities in the fire safety system of the restaurants, which resulted in the death of innocent diners.

The court has rejected the plea for discharge of the accused who will face trial for culpable homicide not amounting to murder along with other charges.