NEW DELHI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Indian police have announced a bounty on three owners of a pub in financial capital Mumbai, where a deadly midnight fire last week claimed the lives of at least 14 people and injured scores.
"Anyone sharing any information about the three owners of 1 Above rooftop restaurant will be given 100,000 rupees (about 1,500 U.S. dollars). The trio have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and are on the run since the fire," a senior police official said Saturday.
"Our teams are also on the job to nab the accused," he added.
The blaze erupted at the 1 Above rooftop restaurant just after midnight last Friday at a building in the popular Kamala Mills shopping compound. Within minutes, the fire engulfed the entire structure, trapping many inside. Those who lost their lives included mostly women.
Police have already arrested two managers of the pub for fleeing the spot without helping customers who were trapped after the fire engulfed the pub-cum-eatery.
Fires are common in eateries and buildings in India, mainly due to lack of regards for safety norms and fire-fighting equipment like hosepipes and alarm systems. A number of lives are lost every year in fire incidents in this country.
