MUMBAI: A court here Wednesday refused to grant bail to Yug Tuli, co-owner of Mojo's Bistro restaurant and an accused in the December 2017 Kamala Mills Compound blaze in Mumbai that claimed 14 lives.
This is the second time that Tuli's bail plea has been turned down by a sessions court here.
A massive fire swept through two roof-top pubs- Mojo's Bistro and 1 Above- located in Kamala Mills Compound in central Mumbai, on December 29 last year, resulting in the death of 14 people.
Additional Sessions Judge U M Padwad observed that the offence was "extremely serious" and occurred due to the "sheer carelessness" of the accused.
"It is clear that the accused, despite having clear knowledge of the probable consequences, continued the business at the same place in utter defiance of rules and regulations," the judge said.
Even the action taken by the corporation (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) did not deter him from running the business, the judge said.
Tuli, who was arrested in mid-January, had approached the Supreme Court after his bail plea was rejected by both the sessions court as well as the Bombay High Court.
In his plea, Tuli had claimed that none of the guests at Mojo's Bistro were among the dead.
He had also said that the tragedy had occurred due to the "mistake" of the staff at '1 Above'.
The apex court had refused to grant bail to Tuli in May.
However, it had granted liberty to the 28-year-old businessman to file a fresh bail petition before the trial court after three months.
Accordingly, he had moved a fresh plea in the sessions court in September.
A total of 14 persons were arrested in the case and booked under various sections of the IPC, including those related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.
The accused include the owners of the Kamala Mills compound, Mojo Bistro and '1 Above', besides two BMC officials.