The owners of the 1Above pub, who had gone into hiding after a fire ravaged the Kamala Mills Compound on December 29 killing about 14 people, were arrested on Wednesday, January 10.
The Sanghvi brothers – Kripesh and Jigar – had been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder after the fire and the police had been on the lookout for the duo. The brothers were arrested after the police got leads on their whereabouts while interrogating Vishal Karia, who is known to have helped them hide, reported the Times of India.
The police then laid a trap to nab the brothers when they came to an eatery to meet a senior lawyer in Bandra. "We got to know that the brothers were in Bandra (West). We laid a trap and caught them when they came to an eatery to meet someone," a police official told TOI.
Kripesh and Jigar are likely to be presented in court today, while the third partner Abhijit Mankar is still missing. "We have just arrested him. Now we will thoroughly question him," another police officer added. Karia is also likely to be interrogated to find out if he provided financial assistance to the Sanghvi brothers and his Audi car has also been seized.
He was produced before the court and has been sent to judicial custody until January 17.
The fire is still being probed and a few days ago, the Mumbai fire brigade department had submitted a report in which it said that the fire did not start at the 1 Above restobar and may have been caused by flying embers from lighted charcoal, which was used in hookah illegally served at the Mojo's Bistro.
"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, according to the Press Trust of India.
The report also clarified that Mojo's bistro as well as 1 Above did not have the license to serve alcohol and hookah, but did so on a regular basis.
