2 held for sheltering pub owners, granted bail

Mumbai: The police on Sunday arrested two persons for allegedly providing shelter to the '1 Above' pub owners, who were booked following a devastating fire at their establishment which killed 14 people on Friday.

They were produced later before a court in Bhoiwada which granted them bail on a bond of Rs 25,000 each, a senior police official said.

After the blaze at the upscale pub in the Kamala Mills compound here in the early hours of December 29, the police had booked its owners Hitesh Sanghvi and Jigar Sanghvi, another co-owner Abhijeet Manka and others under various charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

They had yesterday issued lookout notices against the Sanghvi brothers who are yet to be arrested.

Sanghvi brothers' uncle Rakesh Sanghvi and cousin Aditya Sanghvi were arrested today while a search was on for another relative Mahendra Sanghvi, according to Avinash Shingthe, Senior Police Inspector, Byculla. Officials said the relatives, all residents of Mazgaon area in Byculla, were booked under IPC section 216 which pertains to harbouring an offender who has escaped from custody or whose apprehension has been ordered.

Continuing its drive to raze unauthorised structures of restaurants, hotels and other food joints for the third day, the BMC has decided to adopt a strict stand and not heed to requests by pubs and hotel owners to suspend the exercise in view of New Year celebrations. "We want to remove every unauthorised structure at restaurants, pubs, malls, food joints, other eateries and hotels. We are asking managers to remove it on their own or else we will do," BMC spokesperson Ram Dotonde said.