A LABOUR councillor has admitted allowing a restaurant in Hounslow West to become a potential death trap.
Darshan Grewal appeared at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, June 14, where he pleaded guilty to eight counts of breaching fire safety regulations at Karahi Palace, on Bath Road.
The 56-year-old Hounslow Heath ward councillor, who is chief whip for Hounslow’s Labour group, had previously denied all eight charges against him. He is due to be sentenced alongside former Labour councillor Surjit Singh Dhaliwal, who also changed his plea to admit all eight offences, at the court on July 1.
The charges reveal how inspectors found rubbish blocking the fire escape and flammable liquids stored hazardously, while up-to-date safety checks had not
been carried out on fire extinguishers.
They state the safety breaches had put people ‘at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire’.
Both men denied having anything to do with the running of the restaurant when the venue was inspected on March 17, 2010, with each claiming the other man was in charge.
But they changed their pleas after it was pointed out they were registered as joint leaseholders at the time so must both take responsibility.
The former friends, who live just a few doors apart in Laburnum Grove, Hounslow, bought the restaurant together but a bitter row went all the way to the High Court and the lease was eventually sold in October 2010.
Mr Grewal told the Chronicle Mr Dhaliwal had ‘pushed me out’ and was running the restaurant at the time of the inspection but he kept his name on the lease because he was owed money. He previously
told this paper he had already sold his share of the lease at the time.
Mr Dhaliwal told the paper Mr Grewal, and not him, had been running the restaurant when the inspectors visited.
Both men are due to present papers to the court before sentencing which they claim show the other party was responsible for the restaurant at the time.
The current owners of the venue, now called Ashoka, bought the lease after the date of the fire safety inspection and have assured the Chronicle all necessary safety measures are now in place.
The Chronicle understands Mr Grewal’s position as chief whip is under review, along with his role as chairman of the council’s licensing committee.
Peter Thompson, leader of Hounslow’s Conservative group, called for Mr Grewal’s resignation and questioned his recent appointment as chief whip, responsible for keeping councillors in line.
"Putting him in this position – for which he gets an allowance at our expense – certainly makes you wonder what they are all up to," he added.
