A group of victims of the bombing at an Indian restaurant near Toronto, Canada, in May have filed a lawsuit, alleging that the restaurant was involved in a “turf war between rival business associates,” which led to attack.
Six out of the 15 victims have filed the lawsuit, asking for Can$6 million from the Bombay Bhel restaurant at Mississauga, Ontario.
The plaintiffs — Sonia Sheth, Porshia Mehta, Surjit Luthra, Parmeshvar Luthra, Arjun Luthra and Neelamhit Luthra — are each claiming damages for both psychological and physical injuries suffered as a result of the explosion. In the lawsuit, filed on Aug, 20, they are seeking Can$1 million each for “severe and permanent injuries,” CBC News reported.
“The owners of the Bombay Bhel restaurant knew or ought to have known there was an issue with security and that they were targeted,” lawyer Darryl Singer said at a news conference at Diamond & Diamond, a Toronto-based personal injury law firm, the report added.
“The restaurant failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent this bombing,” Singer said, according to a statement from the law firm. “Security was insufficient and the restaurant itself was open past the time it was supposed to be closed,” he added.
The bomb detonated two minutes past 10.30pm, when the restaurant doors were supposed to be closed. The restaurant website says it closes every day at 10pm.
“Had the doors been closed on time, the bombing would not have happened inside the restaurant,” the lawsuit says, CBC News reported.
“We are victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” it qouted the statement of claim as saying.
The blast took place on May 24 at Bombay Bhel restaurant, located in a plaza in the area of Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue where two birthday parties were being celebrated.
According to the Peel Police, two unidentified people walked into the establishment, and detonated an improvised explosive device and fled from the scene in an unidentified vehicle.
They described one suspect as a man in the mid-20s, stocky, wearing dark blue jeans, a dark zip-up hoodie pulled over his head and black cloth covering his face. The second suspect, as per their description, was thin, wearing faded blue jeans, a grey t-shirt, dark zip-up hoodie over his head and with his face covered.
Fifteen people were injured in the explosion.
No arrests have been made so far in the case.