Kamala Mills tragedy: Mumbai Police announce Rs 1 lakh for information on pub owners

Alisha Alam | Updated: Jan 6, 2018, 18:45 IST
Days after the horrifying Kamala Mills accident, the Mumbai police who are investigating the case, is now likely to add more names to the list of accused in the FIRs filed in connection with the case. The Mumbai police are planning to include more names in the FIRs after it came to light the flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro was the probable cause of the massive fire in the Kamala Mills Compound that claimed 14 lives on December 29. The Mumbai police had earlier reached to the conclusion that most of the victims were trapped in the toilet of the pub and died of suffocation.

"It was revealed from most of the eyewitnesses that hookah was served at Mojo's restaurant at the time of fire... There is every possibility that during removal of lighted charcoal from the segree (stove) and or transferring it into Hookah or during the fanning of the charcoal the flying burning embers came in contact with the combustible curtains/ decorative material nearby and started the fire," the report stated. The police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to those providing information about the whereabouts of the owners of '1 Above' pub in the Kamala Mills Compound.

Although the owners have not yet been found, the Municipal Commissioner has revealed that after the incident, they were pressured and told to not investigate the accident. Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray also spoke about the incident and said, "It has been days since Kamla Mills Fire incident but no arrest has been made till now, we need to see if there is any political pressure on the government (of Maharashtra) to not take action against the accused."

Yug Pathak, one of the owners of Mojo's Bistro and the son of former Pune police commissioner KK Pathak, was on Saturday arrested by Mumbai police probing the Kamala Mills fire. Yug Pathak's arrest came hours after the NM Joshi Marg police added the partners of Mojo's Bistro as accused in the FIR. Earlier, they had only booked the partners of 1Above and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Stay tuned for more updates.

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