Mojo's Bistro co-owner Yug Tuli surrenders after 15 days on the run; had escaped to Hyderabad
Yug Tuli and wife Pritina
ADVERTISEMENT
On the run for 15 days, the second director and co-owner of Lower Parel's Mojo's Bistro, Yug Tuli surrendered before the police this morning. The Nagpur-based businessman is one of the accused in the Kamala Mills rooftop restaurant fire that claimed 14 lives on December 28.
The fire started at Tuli's pub, when embers from a hookah touched curtains
S Jaykumar, additional commissioner of police (Central region) said, "We have arrested Yug Tuli after he surrendered before the police at NM Joshi Marg police station today. We will produce him before the court." On January 6, an hour after the BMC's fire department declared that the fire had originated at Mojo's Bistro, Tuli and his wife, Pritina, fled Mumbai in their SUV. According to a police officer, the couple, who was at their Chembur apartment, fled by road to Hyderabad via Solapur.
Car that Yug Tuli and Pritina escaped in on Jan 6.
"The couple, who had married just 15 days before the fire, left home at 9.30 pm on Saturday after news channels flashed the fire department's findings. They first dropped Pritina's mother at the airport and then fled to Hyderabad where Tuli's grandparents live," said the officer. The police have also recovered the CCTV grab in which the couple are seen travelling in a jeep with a Jharkhand number plate. Along the way, Tuli was slapped with an e-challan by the Telangana traffic department for speeding.
During investigation, the police learnt that Pritina has a British passport and that she had booked a ticket for herself from Hyderabad to Delhi, but did not board the flight. In a video doing the rounds today, shot just seconds before Tuli had surrendered at the NM Joshi Marg police station, he can be heard saying that he was in Amritsar all these days and was waiting for anticipatory bail, which the court had rejected.
11 arrests so far
Cops have booked 11 people in connection with the fire. Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar, the owners of 1Above, and its managers, Kevin Bawa and Lisbon Lopez, are in police custody. Co-owner of Mojo's Bistro, Yug Pathak, is also in police custody, while Yug Tuli surrendered today.
28 Dec
Day fire at Kamala Mills left 14 people dead
Download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
