Kamala Mills fire: Two '1 Above' pub owners nabbed, one still absconding

Jigar Sanghvi and Kripesh Sanghvi, '1 Above' pub co-owners wanted in connection with the December 29 Kamala Mills fire that claimed 14 lives, were arrested on Wednesday, police said.
The Sanghvi brothers, who were on the run since the incident, were arrested from the Andheri area here, additional commissioner of police S Jaikumar told PTI.

The police had on Tuesday arrested Vishal Kariya, a hotelier, for allegedly giving shelter to the Sanghvi brothers and Abhijeet Mankar -- owners of the '1 Above' pub.

The trio has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences under the Indian Penal Code.

Police had also announced a reward of Rs 100,000 for information about their whereabouts.
Mankar was still absconding.

On December 29, a fire had swept through the '1 Above' and adjacent Mojo's Bistro resto pub in Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.

Kamala Mills fire to Chennai floods: Why India's regulations aren't working

India’s cities – big and small, in the north and south – are sitting around a bonfire of regulations, basic tenets of urban planning and precious human lives. The December Mumbai fire is the latest reminder. We haven’t learnt our lessons from the gruesome Uphaar Cinema fire that killed 59 people and seriously injured 103 people in the national capital in 1997.

Here are some of the major fire incidents that took place in the last 14 years. Some places that are frequent victims – temples and firecracker units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, for example – don’t even come under the strict demographic definition of urban areas.

Carlton Towers, Bengaluru, 2010; nine dead, 70 injured.
SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, 2015; 22 dead, 120 injured.
Surya Sen street market, Kolkata, 2013; 19 dead, ten injured.
Amri (Dhakuria) Hospital, Kolkata, 2011; 73 dead.
The Park Street, Kolkata, 2010; 16 dead.
Kurla (West), Mumbai, 2015; eight dead.
Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 83 dead, 27 injured – all school children.
Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 57 dead, 50 injured.
Nand Nagri, east Delhi, 2011; 15 dead, 65 injured.
The Victoria Park, Meerut, 2006; 65 dead, 81 injured.
Paravur, Kollam, Kerala, 2016; 111 dead, 350 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2016; 38 dead, 33 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2012; 54 dead, 78 injured.
Khusropur, Patna, Bihar, 2005; 35 dead, 50 injured.

According to National Crime Records Bureau figures, 17,700 Indians died – 48 people every day – due to fire accidents in 2015. Of those who died, 62% were women. Maharashtra and Gujarat, our two most highly urbanised states, account for about 30% of the country’s fire accident deaths. There is a close correlation between deaths due to fire-related accidents and population density associated with urbanisation.
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