In a major breakthrough in the December 29 pubs’ blaze case, the Mumbai police on Monday arrested the absconding accused and owner of Kamala Mills Ramesh Govani in connection with the much-discussed blaze in which 14 persons were killed.
The police arrested Govani from Chembur in north-east Mumbai late in the evening and booked him under section 304 ( culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC.
Govani had been absconding ever since the Kamla Mills compound incident, in which a massive fire that ripped Mojo's Bistro lounge, neighbouring 1Above casual dining restaurant and london Taxi Gastro pub at Trade House, claiming 14 lives and leaving 55 others injured.
Govani’s arrest came on the heels of the arrest of Ravi S Bhandari, a partner in the Kamala mills, Utkarsh Pandey, the owner of hookah supply firm Nirvana and fire officer Rajendra Patil, who were arrested on Saturday. The three were on Sunday remanded in police custody till January 25.
The investigators had earlier arrested three accused --Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar. Kripesh Sanghvi and his brother Jigar Sanghvi who had been on the run since the December 29 fire tragedy, were arrested from a hotel in Bandra late on Wednesday last, while the third partner of 1Above restaurant Abhijeet Mankar, was picked up from Marine lines in the early hours of Thursday. The city police had issued look-out notices for these three absconding accused.
Yug Tulli, one of the co-owners Mojo's Bistro where the fire first erupted, surrendered to the Mumbai police on January 16 and was formally arrested.With the latest development, the total numbers of arrests made in the Kamala Mills compound fire has gone up to 12.
The persons arrested initially were: two managers of 1Above pub – Kevin Bawa and Gibson lopez, two relatives of the absconding Sanghavi duo – uncle Rakesh Sanghavi and cousin Aditya Sanghavi for giving shelter to the currently absconding co-owners of 1Above pub and Yug K. Pathak, son of a retired IPS officer and Pune's former police commissioner and one of the co-owners of Mojo's Bistro.
However, the uncle-cousin --Rakesh Sanghavi and Aditya Sanghavi – were subsequently released them on a bail of Rs.25,000 each.
In its preliminary inquiry report submitted to Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, the Mumbai fire Brigade had among other things stated that the fire originated from Mojo's Bistro and not 1Above casual dining restaurant and that the bodies of all those killed in the mishap were found in the bathroom of 1 Above which shared the terrace with Mojo’s.
The MBT had attributed the fire at Mojo's Bistro to the flying charcoal embers of a hookah, which was being served illegally. The report had said that the fire soon spread through an inflammable canopy, installed to weather-proof the open air pub, which was again an illegal addition as open-air establishments are not allowed to cover the roofs.