Kamala Mills fire: HC rejects restaurateur's bail plea

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today rejected the bail plea of Yug Tuli, the co-owner of the Mojo’s Bistro restaurant and an accused in the December, 2017 fire incident at the Kamala Mills compound here, in which 14 people were killed. Justice Ajey Gadkari dismissed Tuli’s bail application and said he would pass a detailed order later.

Tuli, who was arrested in mid-January, had approached the high court after his bail plea was rejected by the sessions court. In his plea, Tuli had claimed that the tragedy occurred due to the “mistake” of the staff at “1 Above”, the other restaurant that was gutted in the blaze on the intervening night of December 28-29.

His counsel Shirish Gupte argued that while as per the police inquiry, the fire did start at Mojo’s Bistro, none of the guests at the restaurant was among the dead. Prosecution lawyer Prakash Shetty, however, opposed the bail plea and said there was gross negligence on the part of Tuli and all the other accused.

Shetty told the court that as per the inquiry reports of the police as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was caused by the flying embers emanating from a hookah being served illegally at Mojo’s Bistro.

Tuli claimed that he had no role in the day-to-day operations of the hookah parlour. A total of 14 persons have been arrested in the case and booked under various sections of the IPC, including those related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

The accused include the owners of the Kamala Mills compound, Mojo Bistro and 1 Above and two BMC officials. On the fateful night, a massive fire had swept through the two resto-pubs at the Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.