Kamala mills fire: Police arrest Juhu-based hotelier, recover car owned by another accused

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MUMBAI: A Juhu-based hotelier has on Tuesday been arrested by NM Joshi Marg police in connection with the Kamala mills fire tragedy that claimed lives of 14 people.

Identified as Vishal Kariya, he is believed to be a close friend of one of the partners of '1 Above' pub.

Police have recovered a car from his possession, which was used by his close friend who is one of the accused associated with '1 Above'.

“We have arrested Kariya and have recovered accused Abhijeet Mankar’s car from his possession,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone III, Virendra Mishra told DNA.

“We are now probing how, why and when he got possession of Mankar’s car? He could not reply when we asked him these questions. Also, he did not inform the police about having kept Mankar’s car. Initially, when we questioned Kariya, he gave a fake identity and claimed to be Vikas and not Vishal. His lie was soon caught,” said another police officer.

In its preliminary probe report, the Mumbai Fire Brigade had said the blaze had possibly started at Mojo's Bistro due to the flying embers of a hookah. The fire had spread to adjacent 1 Above, a swish terrace resto-pub located in a building in the Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai.

It is suspected that the patrons killed in the fire were dining at 1 Above.

Last week, another co-owner of Mojo's Bistro Yug Pathak was arrested in connection with the incident.

The police had earlier arrested two managers of 1 Above in connection with the case.

In a related development, the two managers of 1 Above -- Kevin Bava and Lisbon Lopez -- were today remanded to judicial custody till January 22 by a magistrate's court here after the police submitted that they did not need their custody anymore.

The bail applications of Lopez and Bava are posted for hearing tomorrow.

The police had recorded Pathak's statement in the case earlier. The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR, which was lodged on December 29 against the owners of 1 Above -- Kripesh Sanghvi, Jignesh Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar.