Yug Tuli surrenders, remanded in custody

Mumbai: After hiding from the police and the media for a fortnight, co-owner of Mojo’s Bistro, Yug Tuli on Tuesday surrendered himself at the N.M. Joshi Marg police station at 7 am. Tuli was the only accused in the Kamala Mills fire tragedy, who was yet to be arrested. Fourteen people had died and 31 others were injured in the blaze on December 29, 2017. Later in the day, the Bhoiwada court remanded Tuli to police custody till Saturday.

Special public prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Shetty told the court that Tuli is the main accused, who had collected all the licences and permissions for the restopub and had carried out illegal constructions there.

A police source said that Tuli walked into the N.M. Joshi Marg police station  along with his lawyer Shyam Devani, approac-hed a constable and surrendered himself. The constable then informed the duty officers present in the morning shift, following which the arrest was made. S. Jaykumar, additional commissioner of police (central region) said, “We will enquire about Tuli’s whereabouts after he fled the city on January 6, and where he went after he was spotted at Hyderabad airport.”

Tuli allegedly went into hiding soon after the fire. His anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the sessions court. Mr Shetty told the court that the police wanted to investigate who had helped him serve illegal hookah and allowed him to do illegal construction in the pub. The prosecution argued that Tuli was aware of the fire hazards posed by hookah and the illegal construction, yet he was doing business. Hence, section 304 of the IPC, culpable homicide not amounting to murder had been invoked against him and maximum days custody was sought.

Mr Devani argued that on January 4 he had given his statement before the police. “All the licences and documents were submitted to the police. Nothing remains to be recovered from the accused, hence minimum custody should be granted,” he said.

Mr Devani informed the court that on January 4, Tulli had given his statement to the police, so police can’t allege he was absconding. The copy of the rejection of ABA was made available on Monday therefore Tuli surrendered today, said Mr Devani.