Kamla Mills fire: Hotelier held for shielding 1Above owner Abhijit Mankar

The hotelier, Vishal Karia, was found in possession of a white Audi car that belonged to Abhijit Mankar.

A 42-year-old Juhu-based hotelier was arrested by the NM Joshi Marg police for allegedly shielding the main accused, Abhijit Mankar, who is a co-owner of 1Above, one of the two restaurants that caught fire on December 29, killing 14 people.

A view the site which caught fire at Kamla Mills compound in Mumbai on December 29. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The hotelier, Vishal Karia, was found in possession of a white Audi car that belonged to Mankar. Police said the car keys were given to Karia by another 1Above co-owner, Kripesh Sanghvi, just hours after the fire.

Karia told police he had never used the car or read or seen the news and so was not aware they were looking for 1Above’s owners. Police detained Karia at 5am on Tuesday and arrested him by 8pm when they found out the car had been used on January 3.

“It is possible Karia met the accused. We have arrested him on these grounds and are trying to find out if he knows where the owners are,” said Virendra Mishra, deputy commissioner zone 3.