1 Above owner who was in hiding arrested

Mumbai: The police arrested the third absconding owner of 1 Above pub, Abhijeet Mankar, at 7.30 am on Thursday morning from Hotel Marine Plaza at Marine Lines. Mankar had been staying at the hotel since the fire broke out on December 29. His arrest was made hours after the two other owners, the Sanghvi brothers — Kripesh and Jigar, were arrested from Bandra after the police successfully laid a trap outside the lawyer’s office. With the arrest count going up to ten, only one accused — Yug Tuli (co-owner of Mojo’s Bistro) is still absconding.

Sources said that the Mankar’s arrest was made after his friend, Vishal Karia, a hotelier-cum-bookie, revealed the locations of the three accused.

Hours before Mankar’s arrest, the NM Joshi police had arrested the Sanghvis, who were also absconding since the fire took place, gutting in two pubs in the Kamala Mills compound and killing 14 people, including 11 women. The Sanghvi brothers were arrested from Bandra area, after the police laid a trap outside their lawyer’s office late on Wednesday evening. Sources said that the duo was arrested as soon as they were identified by the police while crossing a road in Bandra.

Ahmed Pathan, senior police inspector of NM Joshi police station said, “The three absconding owners of 1 Above were arrested after we received a tip off. After the arrest of the Sanghvi brothers from Bandra late on Wednesday, we interrogated them, and sought Mankar’s location, following which he was arrested.”

When asked DCP Virendra Mishra (Zone 3) about how Mankar managed to stay in the hotel going unnoticed, he said, “We are probing the matter.”