Son of ex-police boss held for pub fire

Moving swiftly after the Mumbai Fire Brigade probe report, the police yesterday arrested Yug K. Pathak, the son of a retired Director General of Police (DGP)-rank Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and the co-owner of The Mojo’s Bistro, where 14 people were killed in a fire on December 29.

“He has been booked under the stringent IPC [Indian penal code] Section 304 pertaining to culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Patil, of the third overall but first major arrest so far in the case.

The son of IPS officer K.K. Pathak — who had served as police commissioner of Pune and Nagpur, besides other important postings — Yug had been questioned last week as part of the probe into the blaze that also left 55 people injured.

Starting from scratch

Besides Yug Pathak, the police have also booked and summoned Yug R. Tuli, a businessman from Nagpur who is one of the partners in The Mojo’s Bistro, for questioning, police said.

On December 30, the police had filed three first information reports against at least two of the pubs — The Mojo’s Bistro and 1Above — besides Ramesh Govani, the owner of the sprawling Kamala Mills Compound, Lower Parel, where these high-end establishments are located.

The police action was initiated after the Mumbai Fire Brigade probe report said that the deadly fire started in The Mojo’s Bistro.

On Friday, Mumbai police announced a bounty for the whereabouts of the absconding owners of 1Above pub, Kripesh Sanghavi, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijeet Mankar.