Kamla Mills fire: SC refuses interim bail to restaurateur

Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an interim bail plea of Yug Tuli, the co-owner of Mojo’s Bistro restaurant and an accused in the December 2017 fire at Kamala Mills compound in Mumbai in which 14 people were killed.

Tuli had filed the writ petition in the apex court seeking interim bail till the bail application before the Bombay high court was decided.

The Maharashtra government opposed Tuli’s plea, saying the Bombay HC had last week rejected his bail plea and therefore the present writ petition filed by him seeking interim relief has become infructous.

A bench of justice AK Sikri and justice Ashok Bhushan said since the HC had rejected his plea on April 27, he can challenge that order through an appeal.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tuli, said he was the co-owner of the restaurant situated in the compound, where the fire took place, and the other accused have been granted bail by the courts. “He should be given at least interim bail till the appeal against the high court order is adjudicated by the apex court,” Rohatgi said.

Maharashtra’s standing counsel Nishant Katneshwar opposed the plea and said the accused has even filed an appeal against the high court order.

The bench said it will look into the aspect of interim bail when the appeal is taken up for hearing. Tuli had claimed that the HC bench, which is hearing his bail matter, is seized of various bail petitions and it would take some time for his plea to be decided. He had also sought direction that his bail application be decided by the high court expeditiously.

Tuli, who was arrested in midJanuary, had approached the high court after his bail plea was rejected by the sessions court on April 11. In his plea before the HC, 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.

NEWDELHI:The