The bar was supposed to have at least two entrances as per licence conditions, police said
Five men died in Bengaluru after a fire swept through the bar in which they were sleeping during the early hours of Monday. The men were all from districts close to the city and were between their early 20s and 40s. One of the owners of the bar, VR Prakash, and the manager Somashekar have been arrested. Another owner, VR Dayashankar, has been charged but not arrested as he is paralysed.
Kailash Bar and Restaurant in Bengaluru's busy Kalasipalyam turned into a death trap. A passer-by saw smoke at 2:30 am and the fire service responded. But it was too late to save the workers.
"We were able to put out the fire and enter the building. We have removed five bodies from the premises. Right now we are awaiting reports from three specialist teams," senior police officer MN Anucheth said.
"The five were workers of the bar. They were sleeping inside after closing down the bar at 1 am," he said.
The bodies had burn injuries; the cause of deaths will be known after a post-mortem, police said. They had locked the shutters from inside, so fire fighters had to break open the door and enter.
"We are awaiting the fire department's reports based on which we will tell what exactly happened," the police officer said.
Bengaluru authorities had actually been on a drive since January 2 to check fire safety in such establishments.
The bar had a "class 9" licence, which meant it should have at least two entrances, but it had only one -- a rolling shutter. Its ceiling was at a height of 7 feet instead of the minimum 15 feet required by law. There was no fire extinguisher.
The owners and manager have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and the society that owns the building has been charged with flouting building safety norms.
City authorities had actually been on a drive since January 2 to check fire safety in such establishments,
after a fire in two Mumbai pubs last month killed over 10 people.
"What happened in Mumbai in December can happen anywhere. And so we started inspecting all the rooftop bars and unauthorised bars in Bengaluru, whichever was there. We have sealed some of them and issued notice to many," Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj said. "Since this incident happened at a bar, we are also waiting for the excise report whether this was legal and permission was given and all fire safety measures were met or not."