Rajkot Fire Tragedy: Cops Detain Fire Officer, Municipal Official For Questioning

The Gujarat police on Wednesday detained a fire officer and the town planning officer for questioning in connection to the Rajkot game zone fire accident, which claimed the lives of at least 27 people, including children, on May 25.

Town Planning Officer MD Sagathia and Fire Officer BJ Theba, both from the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, were detained by the Rajkot Crime Branch.

According to an NDTV report, the officials are being interrogated regarding how the TRP Gaming Zone, where the tragedy happened, was operating solely with an entertainment license, lacking a no-objection certificate, approved layout plan, building-use certificate, and proper fire clearances.

FIRs Against Owners Of 18 Illegal Game Zones

Earlier today, as part of the investigation, the police initiated a crackdown and booked owners of 18 similar recreation facilities allegedly operating without valid permissions.

On Tuesday, Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, after a meeting with state DGP Vikas Sahay and other senior officers in Gandhinagar, directed all police commissioners and superintendents of police to register FIRs against the managements of illegal game zones.

As per an official release, Sanghavi instructed police officers to file FIRs against the owners of game zones operating without fire NOCs or other mandatory licenses and permissions.

Additionally, the police have apprehended another partner of the Rajkot-based TRP game zone.

Kiritsinh Jadeja, a partner in Raceway Enterprises, the operator of the game zone, was apprehended from Rajkot-Kalavad road on Tuesday night, Rajkot Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Parthrajsinh Gohil told the media on Wednesday.

Jadeja is one of the six partners of the TRP game zone named as accused in the fire incident and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

“Out of six persons named in the FIR, one Prakash Hiran has died in the fire. During examination, the DNA sample of one of the deceased matched with that of Hiran’s kin, confirming his death,” the official said.

Previously, the police had arrested Yuvrajsinh Solanki, Rahul Rathod, Dhaval Thakkar, all partners of the game zone, and its manager Nitin Jain.

(With inputs from PTI)

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