“My life is on hold,” says Kiwi-Indian Nishant Nagar (below), who owns ohSO Cafe and Bar in Auckland that was gutted in a fire in the early hours of March 20, 2023.
Fire officials rushed to the Crummer Road eatery in the northern suburb of Grey Lynn after the fire alarm went off at 3am. Nishant and his wife Ritika had pooled in resources to buy the cafe in November 2022, and they had been working hard to establish the business. 
Nagar, who hails from Delhi and has been in the country since 2014, told The Indian Weekender the fire has upended the family’s plans.
"My life has turned upside down. I never thought in my wildest dream that something like this would happen to us. It was our first café...our dream. The insurance company has told me it can take up to one year to get the claim and things sorted, as they are busy with claims filed due to Auckland flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” he said.
An official investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the fire. Nagar pointed to CCTV footage from a security camera near his café that shows a man walking away from the building hours before the fire started.
He suspects the man might have been carrying out a recce around the café a day before the incident. He has already shared the video with the police.
"My family and I are living a nightmare. I am also stressed about the security and future of my family. I don’t know why it has happened to us. The police have not been able to get any substantial leads so far. I hope they can act faster, and we get to the truth and can get justice,” he said.
Shift Manager at Fire and Emergency NZ Paul Radden told The Indian Weekender the fire engulfed an area of nearly 600 metres.
“The fire was quite extensive…and required the deployment of five fire crews and around 20 firefighters. The fire investigators attended the scene and left the incident at 7am on Friday," he said.
Detective Constable Andrew Gan told The Indian Weekender the case is under investigation. “The inquiries are ongoing. No one has been arrested,” he said.
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