Bail plea of Tuli and Pathak heard

The bail plea of the accused Yug Tuli and Yug Pathak, owners of Mojo’s Bistro was heard in the Bhoiwada Magistrate court on Tuesday.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant who represented Yug Pathak, argued before Magistrate V.B.Bohra, 13th Metropolitan Magistrate court, that there has to be evidence to prove that the accused had the knowledge about the incident as well as the intention for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304) of the IPC. In this case, Merchant claimed neither did his client have knowledge about the incident nor intention. So, he stated that section 304 was not applicable in this case. He said that his client should be charged for causing death due to negligence (Section 304(A)) of the IPC.

Merchant further argued that as per the fire brigade report, the fire occurred in the south-east corner of the pub where hookah was being supplied on the terrace of the pub. He stated that the hookah flying embers, which led to the fire, as per the fire report, is an act of God. So,Tuli is not responsible for it. Merchant further cited a judgement of the Uphaar tragedy. He argued that none of the 14 persons died due to to burn injuries. The victims died due to suffocation in the bathroom of 1Above which had no ventilation.

Shyam Dewani, representing Tuli, argued that the prosecution needed to prove there a homicide. He stated that Tuli had no intention or knowledge of it.

The bail plea of Abhijit Mankar, and Kripesh and Jigar Sanghvi will be heard on January 25.