Three more sent to police custody
THE FIRE OFFICIAL WHO GAVE NOC CERTIFICATE TO MOJO’S BISTRO WAS AMONG THE THREE SENT TO POLICE CUSTODY
MUMBAI: A holiday court, on Sunday, granted police custody (PC) till January 25 for Ravi Bhandari, 57, director of the Kamala Mills compound; Rajendra B Patil, 52, the fire official who granted a no-objection certification (NOC) to Mojo’s Bistro from the fire department and Utkarsh Vinod Pande, 28, a hookah supplier.
The Mumbai police sought custody to probe alleged lapses and negligence which led to the fire. “We initially arrested the managers of the 1Above and later the owners of 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro. The fire brigade report stated that the fire started from Mojo and after investigation, these three were arrested,” S Naikwadi, inspector, NM Joshi police station, told court while seeking custody of the three.
Police wanted to investigate the involvement of other people in the matter, the inspector told the court. Naikwadi stated that while Bhandari is the owner, Pande supplied hookah to Mojo’s Bistro without proper clearance while Patil issued the NOC a week before the fire.
“Patil gave a wrong report saying that the terrace is open,” Naikwadi told the court.
‘THEY IGNORED NORMS’
The police has alleged that the three were arrested because they ignored various norms.
Yug Tuli, co-owner of Mojo’s Bistro who was arrested on Tuesday, allegedly outsourced the hookah business to Pande. “Pande employed his staff to serve hookah to customers,” said a police officer, adding that Pande knew that Mojo’s Bistro did not have permission. “Despite this, Pande went ahead with the deal.”
On the role of Bhandari, the officer said that he had misused additional floor space index (FSI) by leasing out the terrace. “The terraces were given on rent when there was no permission, such as commencement certificate, from the civic body,” said the officer.
The police are also investigating if Bhandari misused FSI meant for an information technology (IT) park. Fire official Patil has been accused for certifying that the restaurants were fire compliant. Patil is the first BMC officer to be arrested in the case.
A report highlighting violations and causes prepared by BMC chief Ajoy Mehta was submitted to the state government, Mumbai police commissioner and city mayor on Friday.