Accused had wide window to escape
The Mumbai police have intensified the search operation to trace three partners of ‘1Above’ pub -- Hitesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar – who have been on the run since Friday after 14 people were killed in midnight blaze at Kamala Mills compound. Having drawn a blank, the investigators are looking at the possibility of the trio having gone to Nepal by road.
Also, the fact that the lookout notice for the immigration authorities at the airport was issued hours after the tragedy, sources said the accused had a sufficiently wide window to board a flight and make good their escape.
The search teams have already visited the residences of Sanghavi bothers and Mankar at Chaitya Towers in Mazgaon in Mumbai and Todkar Residency in Pune,
respectively, but returned empty handed.
A senior officer from Mumbai police told the Free Press Journal that until now 10 teams have been despatched to different states to trace them.
“Earlier we had five teams searching for them. We have taken all preventive measures to restrain them from flying out of the country. We are, however, checking whether they have taken the road route to Nepal. We are probing,” said a senior officer.
According to sources, the ‘window’ immediately after the mishap gave the trio sufficient time to consult their lawyers; at 8 pm on Saturday, the legal team of ‘1Above’ sent a detailed letter to officials of Mumbai police making out a case for the Sanghavi brothers and Mankar. In fact, on Friday night itself, the lawyers had dashed off a statement passing the buck for the tragedy and pointing an accusing finger at Bistro – the adjacent restaurant.
“We are not absconding and we are ready and willing to cooperate with the investigation, wherever the true and fair investigation is to be proceeded. However, the investigation is on wrong and incorrect track which needs to be corrected by an independent investigating agency viz. CBI or some investigating agency of high level, otherwise the wrong-doers will go scot-free and we innocents will be wrongly booked. The police would illegally frame us…” reads the letter undersigned by Sanghavi brothers and Mankar.
“We are ready and willing to bring all the facts on record, however the concerned Police Station and Investigating Officer are working with a bias approach influenced by the owners of Mojos Bistro because they are very highly influential and positioned people. Our life, liberty, freedom, property and family is in fear and danger. The owners of Mojo’s Bistro -- Mr. Yug Pathak, Mr. Siddharath Mahadevan and Mr. Yug -- are the ones who are now controlling the press and trying to portray that the fire has started at ‘1 Above’ which is factually incorrect. Mr. Pathak is the son of a high ranking police officer and we are not getting justice from the police, the police have been managed,” the letter has alleged.
Meanwhile, the statement issued by Yug Tuli, director of Tirupati Restaurants and Cafe Pvt. Ltd, which operates Mojos Bitro, reads: “We have been very particular about the safety measures in our outlets and can assure you that there were no gas cylinders in the kitchen (which is still intact) or anywhere on our premises. The gas bank is situated on the ground floor. The staff was trained a month back for basic first aid, CPR, and fire drills and that was the primary reason why they were able to locate the building fire exits and evacuate guests to safety, without any injuries or casualties.”