Kamala Mills fire: Police try to trace witnesses at Mojo Bistro, after fire brigade report

Report says blaze started from hookah coals in Mojo and spread to 1Above owing to combustible material, illegal alterations at both places

Two days after the fire brigade report into the Kamala Mills fire, which claimed 14 lives, revealed that the blaze started in Mojo Bistro, the focus of the police probe into the mishap has now shifted to finding witnesses from the restaurant.

While 14 people at 1Above died in the blaze, all 35 patrons of Mojo escaped with the help of staff after the fire broke out. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Initially, the police investigating was focused on 1Above, the restaurant adjoining Mojo, as the bodies of victims were found there. The fire brigade report, however, said the fire started from hookah coals in Mojo and then spread to 1Above owing to combustible material and illegal alterations made at both the eateries.

The police have now urged people, who were present at Mojo when the fire broke out on December 29, to come forward and record their statements.

“We need statements of the people who were present in Mojo Bistro… we are trying to trace them to know what exactly happened and how they escaped,” said Suryakant Naikode from the NM Joshi Marg police station.

According to sources, while 14 people who were at 1Above died in the blaze, all 35 patrons of Mojo had escaped with the help of staff after the fire broke out.

Meanwhile, Yug Pathak, the co-owner of Mojo, who was arrested on Saturday, was produced before Bhoiwada court on Sunday and remanded to police custody till January 12. Pathak is the son of former IPS officer KK Pathak.

Pathak and his partner Yug Tulli, a Nagpur-based hotelier, have been booked on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The police are yet to track down Tulli.

Also, the owners of 1Above – Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and their partner Abhijit Mankar – who have been booked, are still absconding.