Court rejects pre-arrest bail plea of absconding co-owner of Mojo's Bistro

Seeking pre-arrest bail for his client, Tulli's lawyer contended that the devastating fire at the Kamala Mills compound had started from the adjoining 1 Above pub

A sessions court here on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail application of Yug Tulli, the absconding co-owner of the Mojo's Bistro pub, in the Kamala Mills fire case.

Seeking pre-arrest bail for his client, Tulli's lawyer contended that the devastating fire at the Kamala Mills compound on December 29, which had claimed 14 lives, had started from the adjoining 1 Above pub.

Hence, the owners of Mojo's Bistro could not be blamed for the tragedy, he argued.

However, the prosecution said that a report of the Mumbai Fire Brigade as well as eyewitnesses said the fire had started at Mojo's Bistro.

In its preliminary probe report, the Fire Brigade had said the blaze possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying charcoal embers of a hookah.

The husband of Parul Lakdawala, one of the fire victims, had filed an intervention application, opposing the anticipatory bail plea of Tulli, saying that the latter was responsible for the death of his wife and others.

The police have already arrested Yug Pathak, a co-owner of Mojo's Bistro.

Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer, and Tulli, a Nagpur-based businessman, were booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life and personal safety of others) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR lodged on December 29 against the owners of 1 Above -- Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar. The three have now been arrested and remanded to police custody.

On December 29, the fire had swept through 1 Above and the adjacent Mojo's Bistro resto pub at the Kamala Mills compound here, resulting in the death of 14 persons.