Dream Hotel Founder Charged With Lighting 2 Dogs on Fire

SOHO, NY — Dream Hotel founder Vikram Chatwal turned himself into police on Tuesday morning over an incident in which he tried to light two dogs on fire outside his SoHo home.

Chatwal, 44, surrendered to police with his lawyer at the Fifth Precinct headquarters at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. He was charged with felony criminal mischief, two counts of torturing an animal, reckless endangerment and two counts of arson, police said.

The charges stem from an Oct. 7 incident in which Chatwal got into an argument with a woman walking her dogs outside his home on Wooster Street, police said. Chatwal pulled out a lighter and aerosol can and used them to burn the two dogs, according to police. The dogs suffered minor burns in the incident, police said.

Chatwal founded a number of luxury hotels in New York City, including the Dream Hotels in Midtown and Chelsea, the Night Hotel in Times Square, and hotels in Miami, Bangkok and India. Chatwal has not actually been involved in the operation of the Dream Hotel for a couple years.

Photo Credit: Rubenstein Public Relations via Wikimedia Commons