Food chain Wow! Momo raises Rs 70 crore from Z3Partners
Quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain Wow! Momo, on Wednesday, said it has raised Rs 70 crore from Z3Partners, which is as an extension to its latest round of fundraise.
A major fire swept through a resto-bar located in a 70-year-old building in a busy area in the city, killing five employees in their sleep early today, police said.
The blaze broke out in Kailash Bar and Restaurant on the ground floor of the Kumbara Sangha (potters association) building at Kalasipalya around 2.30 a.m., when smoke was noticed and fire brigade alerted by some persons nearby, police said.
“Fire services were pressed into action.. Two fire tenders and one fire rescue vehicle attended to it and it has been doused…The cause of the fire is not known and is being investigated,” a senior police officer said.
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Resto-bar owner V R Dayashankar who went absconding after the incident was later arrested, police said.
Karnataka home minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters at the spot that it was the responsibility of the owner to look after the safety of his employees. Reddy also said the city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should have ensured safety. “BBMP and excise department should have looked into the safety aspect of the building. The owner should have also considered whether to allow his employees to stay in the building.”
Police suspect that though the owner was the licence holder to run the business, he had leased it to someone else.
The victims were identified as Swami (23), Prasad (20), Mahesh, all natives of Tumakaru, Manjunath (45) from Hassan and Keerthi (24) from Mandya.
Bengaluru Development minister K J George who visited the spot along with Mayor R Sampath Raj announced a compensation of Rs five lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased. Condoling the deaths, George said, “Whoever is guilty in the incident will not be spared.”
“This is a 70-year old building where the incident happened.. We’ll wait for the forensic and postmortem report.. It appears all the five died of suffocation,” he said. Sampath Raj said the BBMP will carry out fire safety audit of all high rise and commercial buildings.
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