New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant bail to Yug Tuli, the co-owner of Mumbai's Mojo's Bistro restaurant and an accused in the December 2017 fire incident there which had claimed 14 lives.
The top court, however, granted liberty to the 28-year-old businessman to file a fresh bail petition before the trial court after three months.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and MM Shantanagoudar heard Tuli's petition challenging the order of Bombay High Court denying him bail on merit and disposed it of.
On the fateful night, a massive fire had swept through two resto-pubs at the Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.
At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Tuli, said no case of criminal negligence has been made out against him as the tragedy occurred due to the "mistake" of the staff at "1 Above", the other restaurant that was gutted in the blaze on the intervening night of December 28-29 last year.
He said that as per the inquiry reports of the police as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was caused by the flying embers emanating from a 'hookah' being served illegally at Mojo's Bistro.
"None of the customers or guests at the restaurant had died in the incident," Rohatgi said, adding that the manager of the restaurant and the hookah supplier have got bail in the case.
Standing counsel Nishant Katneshwar, appearing for Maharashtra government, opposed the bail plea of Tuli and said if he was enlarged on bail, he may try to influence the witnesses.