Mumbai, January 11: In a major development, the Mumbai police on Thursday morning arrested the owner of ‘1 Above’ resto bar, Abhijeet Mankar in connection with the massive Kamala Mills fire. The deadly Kamla Mills fire claimed the lives of 14 people last month and injured many. Soon after the investigation began, the owner had been absconding since the incident. The two other absconding owners of the restaurant, brothers Jigar Sanghvi and Kripesh Sanghvi were arrested on Wednesday on the information provided by a Juhu-based hotelier Vishal Kariya. Kariya was arrested the same day for sheltering the duo along with Mankar.

The ‘1 Above’ resto bar was run by three partners - Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar.  A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against them.

As per a report by ANI, the police has also recovered a high-end car of accused Mankar from the Kariya (42) Juhu residence. During the interrogation, the hotelier revealed that he sheltered the trio at his residence. Kariya had been booked under Section 216 of the Indian Penal Code. Reports state that the Maharashtra Government has appointed Advocate Prakash Shetty as Special Public Prosecutor for Kamala Mills Fire case trial.

On January 6, ‘1 Above’ was found to have flouted the fire safety measures issued by the Mumbai Fire Brigade, which led to the fire on December 29. Yug Pathak, one of the owners of Mojo’s Bistro and the son of former Pune police commissioner K K Pathak, has also been arrested in the case.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 11, 2018 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).