Kamala Mills fire: Mumbai man who served hookah on night of blaze held

Mumbai police told the court that they needed custody of the accused as they needed to ascertain what caused the hookah embers to flare up as he was handling them

The NM Joshi Marg police arrested another accused in connection with the Kamala Mills fire, in which 14 people were killed. On Wednesday evening, police nabbed Sayyed alias Shehzad Mumtaz, 22, who was serving hookah at Mojo’s Bistro on December 29 — the night of the fire.

The fire killed 14 people and injured 55. (HT File)

Police arrested Mumtaz from his residence at Mansarovar near Navi Mumbai. He was presented before the Bhoiwada magistrate court on Thursday and remanded in police custody until January 29.

Police told the court that they needed custody of him as they needed to ascertain what caused the hookah embers to flare up as Mumtaz was handling them. They said the embers set the curtains on fire.

Fire officer Rajendra Patil and Kamala Mills director Ravi Bhandari were produced before the Bhoiwada court and sent to judicial custody till January 29.Utkarsh Pandey, who supplied hookah to Mojo’s Bistro was remanded in police custody till January 29.

Public prosecutor Sanjay Wadhwane told the court that the police needed custody of Pandey to interrogate him as they were to make more arrests in the case. Police said they needed custody of Bhandari to conduct a joint interrogation with Kamala Mills owner Ramesh Govani.

No bail for Mojo’s, 1Above owners

The Bhoiwada magistrate court rejected the bail application of 1Above owners Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and their partner Abhijit Mankar. It also rejected the bail applications of Mojo’s Bistro owners Yug Tuli and Yug Pathak. Public prosecutor Sanjay Wadhwane said the accused might tamper with evidence after being released. The owners of 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro will submit their bail application at the sessions court on Monday.