Janjivan Bureau / Mumbai : The Mumbai police on Saturday booked Yug Pathak and his business partner Yug Tulli in connection with the fire at the 1Above pub in Kamala Mills on December 28 which claimed 14 lives.
Pathak is the son of retired IPS officer KK Pathak.
Both Pathak and Tulli were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, police said on Saturday.
The cases were filed against the duo after an investigation by the Mumbai fire department indicated that the fire actually began at Mojo’s Bistro, which was located in the same terrace as 1Above. The fire department in its report stated that Mojo’s Bistro was illegally serving hookahs to patrons and the fire broke out after a decorative curtain in the restaurant came in contact with burning coals in one of the hookahs.
The fire spread quickly as both the joints were decorated with fabric and wooden furnishings trapping their patrons within. While those inside Mojo’s Bistro were safely evacuated by the employees of the restaurant, those at 1Above were trapped as they could not find the exit. Those who died had mistaken the gents’ toilet for the exit and
were trapped inside, the fire department probe said.
“We have booked the owners of Mojo’s Bistro on the basis of the report put out by the fire brigade,” DCP Sachin Patil told reporters here.
The police had booked the owners of 1Above pub on similar charges as well. However, brothers Hitesh and Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Manka who ran the 1Above pub are absconding. Police have put out lookout notices for them. The police also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone providing information about their whereabouts. The three
were untraceable despite the police taking in their relatives for questioning, police added.
Two managers employed at 1Above have been arrested for escaping from the premises instead of rescuing the patrons.
