Mumbai restaurant blaze: Kamala Mills director, fire officer and hookah supplier arrested

Mojo’s Bistro’s co-owner Yug Tuli was remanded in police custody till January 22

The NM Joshi Marg police on Saturday arrested three more people in connection with the Kamala Mills fire which claimed 14 lived on December 29.

14 people were killed in Kamala Mills fire . (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The arrested men are Ravi Bhandari, 57, director of Kamala Mills compound; Rajendra Baban Patil, 52, fire official who granted a fire no-objection certification to Mojo’s Bistro from where the blaze started; and Utkarsh Vinod Pande, 28, a hookah supplier.

The three names were added in the earlier first information report (FIR) based on which the owners of 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro and the former’s managers were arrested.

The BMC’s fire report was submitted to CM Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday. Copies of the report were also given to the Mumbai police commissioner and the mayor.

The BMC chief had then proposed to initiate criminal actions against the owners of the premises and the two rooftop restaurants, the architect and the interior designer as they all allegedly abetted illegal activities.

Following this, the police have added the names of Ravi Bhandari, the fire official and the hookah supplier. The trio will be presented before the court on Sunday.

Meanwhile Mojo’s Bistro’s co-owner Yug Tuli was remanded in police custody till January 22.

After evading arrest for days, the 29-year-old hotelier had surrendered to the NM Joshi police last week after a court rejected his anticipatory bail application (ABA). The same Bhoiwada court, which granted Tuli’s police custody, will hear bail application of four accused — Bistro’s Yug Pathak, and 1Above’s Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar.