HC rejects bail applications of all 11 accused

The bail application of all eleven accused arrested in the Kamala Mills fire incident has been rejected by the Sessions Court on Friday .

Prakash Shetty, the Special Public Prosecutor argued before sessions court Judge A.L.Yawalkar that the accused Ramesh Gowani, owner of Kamala mills; Ravi Bhandari, the Director of Kamala mills; Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, the owners of 1Above; Yug Tuli and Yug Pathak, owners of Mojo’s Bistro; Rajendra Patil, the fire officer, manager of 1Above; Kevin Bawa and assistant manager Lisbon Lopez and Utkarsh Pandey, the hookah supplier should not be granted bail. The gravity of the situation, the circumstances, the impact and the suffering of the victims and their families should be taken into consideration.

The defense advocates and the Public Prosecutor completed their arguments on Wednesday. Advocate Ajinkya Badar, who represents Ramesh Govani, the owner of Kamala Mills, argued that culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304) is not applicable to his client. He argued before the court that the agreement was between Royal Traders and the owners of 1Above. Gowani and Bhandari got together to float Royal Traders, a subsidiary firm to lease out premises for restaurants. The five-year lease agreement with 1Above was signed in October 2016 and the entire consideration amount had been paid.

Advocate Vikram Chaudhary representing Utkarsh Pandey said, “My client had produced a photocopy of the agreement between Nirvana hookah (owned by Pandey) and Mojo’s for serving hookah. Pandey was abroad and he was not present at the venue at the time of the fire incident.My client’s residence at Kharghar was searched by the police but they did not find anything against him. My client cannot be vicariously responsible for an act which he has no involvement?”

Advocate Vijay Thakur representing Lisbon Lopez, an assistant manager at 1Above argued before the court that Section 304 wasn’t applicable to his client. Lopez had tried to save maximum people at the pub. 14 persons died due to suffocation since they had locked themselves into the bathroom of 1Above.