2015 Hotel City Kinara fire: Decade later, City Kinara stands sealed in silence

Passers-by often stand in front of it to eat food bought from nearby eateries, turning the once-busy hotel into an eerie roadside pause point. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Hotel City Kinara in Kurla has remained frozen in time for nearly a decade since a devastating fire broke out on its loft/mezzanine floor on October 16, 2015. The blaze claimed the lives of eight young adults - seven of them students aged between 18 and 20, and a 31-year-old engineer - who were dining at the restaurant that afternoon.

As part of the investigation, the police had seized and sealed the premises. However, in September 2024, the sessions court directed the Mumbai police to hand over the hotel back to its owner, Sudesha Hegade, following a plea he filed for its release.

But after Tuesday's Bombay High Court verdict, when mid-day visited the site, shopkeepers and locals revealed that the property remains untouched and lifeless, just as it was the day after the fire. "We haven't seen anyone enter or exit the premises since the day those eight people died. It has remained completely untouched," said a neighbouring shop owner, requesting anonymity.

Today, the site is little more than a quiet, desolate structure. Passers-by often stand in front of it to eat food bought from nearby eateries, turning the once-busy hotel into an eerie roadside pause point. Ramnarayan Jaiswal, who owns Laxmi Ice Cream Soda Pub next door, said, "We've heard nothing from the hotel owner. No one has visited. Although the fire didn't physically damage our shop, we were mentally shaken."

The local community around Hotel City Kinara continues to be haunted by the tragedy, even a decade later. "It was gruesome. Everyone here remembers every detail of that day. We also heard that Sharad Tripathi, the hotel's conductor, suffered a paralytic stroke from the shock of the incident," said Anil Shetty, a resident.