'All we see is flames': Scarborough restaurant owner reeling after 2 suspected arsons
Fires happened at Shaaz Indian Cuisine on Friday and Bisi Bisi restaurant on Saturday
Early Friday morning, Siva Rapaka received a call telling him there was a fire at one of his restaurants in Scarborough. The next day, he received another call saying a second restaurant he owns in the area was on fire.
"If we close our eyes, all we see is flames," he said.
"We cannot sleep. Every night we go to bed thinking, 'What's next? Which restaurant will [they] target next?'"
The fire happened at Shaaz Indian Cuisine on Friday and Bisi Bisi, a South Indian restaurant, on Saturday, according to a news release by Tanisi Brands, which owns both spots. Toronto police are investigating the fires as suspected arson and said they believe the incidents are connected.
Rapaka visited what remains of Shaaz Indian Cuisine for the first time on Thursday. The interior is charred and extensively damaged. Some chairs have melted down, and the ceiling is breaking apart. What remains of the furniture is covered in ash, rubble and some surviving dinnerware still arranged in a table setting.
"I'm speechless," Rapaka told CBC Toronto. "We built this brick by brick. I cannot look at it."
His favourite table in the back of the restaurant, where he used to sit every day and talk to customers, is now reduced to ash, he said.
The restaurant "used to smell like fresh food, fresh cup of tea," Rapaka said.
"Now it smells like burned food."
Some 80 people are now out of work after the fires, Rapaka said, who joined employees at a rally in Scarborough on Thursday. They are calling for more funding for Toronto police after these attacks, but also "assert[ing] that we will not be pressured into selling our restaurants to 'undesirable buyers,'" the news release said.
Rapaka said he's waiting for the police investigation to understand why his businesses may have been targeted. He declined to say whether the restaurants have been extorted for money before.
Police say three male suspects wearing masks broke into Shaaz Indian Cuisine, located near Lawrence Avenue E. and Kennedy Road, around 2:45 a.m. on Friday.
Two male suspects wearing masks and dark-coloured clothing broke into Bisi Bisi, located in the same area, around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. No one was in the restaurant at the time, police said.
Police have released an image of the two suspects in the second fire and the suspect vehicle, which they say is a silver SUV — possibly a Honda CRV — with a purple light on the driver's side of the dashboard.
4 employees were inside restaurant during first fire
Tanisi Brands employs around 400 people in Scarborough, Rapaka said. The company owns 30 restaurants across Canada, including six in the area, he said.
Some employees have said they want to return to their home countries after the attacks, said Janet Sherbanowski, general manager of both restaurants.
"Every one of them has said to me, this is Canada. We came here for a peaceful life, we came here for a better life for our families and our children,'" she said.
Meanwhile, Rapaka said he no longer feels safe doing business in Scarborough. He said he moved to Canada six years with a "small Canadian dream" but is now questioning the future of his business.
"I don't know what to do next. Should I put in more work, should I keep on building my Canadian dream or should I just stop it here?" he said.
Among those at Thursday's rally was Rahil Khan, who was working in Shaaz Indian Cuisine when the fire broke out. Employees previously told CBC Toronto that four workers were inside the restaurant at the time.
Khan said he was with other staff in the kitchen area when one of his colleagues went to the front of the building. She saw two or three masked suspects and gasoline on the floor, he said.
When Khan joined her at the front, the suspects started the fire, he said. The workers all escaped out of the back door and called 911.
"We were terrified," he said.
Khan is now unemployed. He says he is struggling financially as he waits for the company to pay his salary while it deals with losses related to the fires.
Rapaka said he's thankful no lives were lost in the fires, and he's grateful that employees who were there at the time showed up to Thursday's rally.
He said he is redistributing some unemployed workers at other Tanisi Brand locations in the Greater Toronto Area, but he is unable to accommodate all employees. He's looking into federal government support in the meantime.
"They're family to us. We cannot just leave them in a tough situation," he said.
He said he is also now paying out of pocket for private security companies to protect his other restaurants during the night.
"All of our assets are under risk," he said.
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to contact police or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.
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With files from Dale Manucdoc