Dinesh Gandhi, one of the financiers of film Tezaab, and his wife were among the seven people killed in the major fire that broke out in a high-rise building “Mont Blanc” at Camps Corner in south Mumbai on Friday night.
The fire broke out on the 12th floor of the 26-storey building at around 7 pm on Friday and razed till very late in the night. The building has 52 flats.Among the killed were Gandhi (65), who financed Tezaab, the N Chandra-directed 1988 blockbuster in which Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit played the lead roles. He had financed some other Hindi and Kannada films. Gandhi’s wife too died in the fire.
The Gandhis were residents of the 12th floor of the building, which was gutted in the fire. The others killed in the mishap were identified as: Sunitra Tejwal (42), Chintanrajan Das (40), Buruwal Mubaliya (40), and Chotu (20). The body of a 40-year-old man, charred beyond recognition, has not been identified as yet.
Mont Blanc is home to several high-profile families, including that of Union Minister of State for Shipping Milind Deora’s cousin Rajeev Deora, who owns an apartment on the 25th floor. His family is safe. Among those injured were six personnel of the Mumbai Fire Brigade. They include two officers. “In all, we evacuated 30 to 35 persons safely. But, it is unfortunate that seven persons were killed in the mishap,” PS Rahangdale, Deputy Chief Fire Officer said, adding that five dead bodies were recovered from the 12th floor itself.
Initial reports had said that the multiple gas cylinder burst had resulted in the massive blaze. However, the authorities are now suspecting that a short-circuit might have caused fire.