Rajkot fire: Death toll climbs to 28; gaming zone operator, manager among 2 arrested

A government release on Saturday said 27 bodies had been recovered from the site of the gaming zone. The FIR filed in the wee hours of Sunday, though, claimed that 28 people had been killed.

Based on a complaint filed by Pregneshkumar Trajiya, a police sub-inspector attached to the Rajkot Taluka Police Station, an FIR was lodged at 3 am on Sunday. In his complaint, Trajiya named Dhaval Thakkar, Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja, Prakashchand Hiran, Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Rahul Rathod as accused. The six have been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police said that Thakkar is the proprietor of a private firm called Dhaval Corporation. Similarly, Ashoksinh Jadeja, his brother Kiritsinh Jadeja, Hiran, Solanki and Rathod are partners in a partnership firm called Raceway Enterprise. The police said the six were running an amusement/gaming park called TRP Game Zone on two party plots adjacent to each other on Nana Mava Road in Rajkot.

Addressing a press conference, Rajkot city police commissioner Raju Bhargava said Solanki and Nitin Jain, a manager of the gaming zone, have been arrested. “An offence has been registered against six accused at Rajkot Taluka Police station… Of them, two accused —Yuvraj Harisinh Solanki who was in-charge of affairs of this gaming zone and his manager Nitin Jain — have been arrested. To arrest the remaining four accused, we are activating teams of the Crime Branch,” Bhargava said.

The police commissioner said the Rajkot Crime Branch has been assigned the probe and that an SIT has been formed to steer the probe in the criminal case. He said that the SIT will be headed by Vidhi Choudhary, additional commissioner of police (crime, traffic and administration) of Rajkot, and will have Sudhir Desai and Parthrajsinh Gohil as its members. Desai and Gohil are deputy commissioner of police (zone-II) and DCP of Rajkot Crime Branch, respectively.

The FIR quotes Bhikha Theba, deputy chief fire officer of Rajkot, as saying that the indoor gaming zone was a steel-fabricated shed around three-storey tall, 50 metre wide and 60 metre long. “It had a mesh of electric wiring and AC vents. The presence of no effective equipment which can fight a fire should one break out and rescue people was not noted. Additionally, as per my knowledge, this TRP Game Zone has never applied for a fire NOC with our department nor has it obtained one. Thus, prima facie, it appears that operators of this game zone had not put in place firefighting equipment,” the FIR quotes Theba as having told PSI Trajiya.

Talking to The Indian Express, Rajkot City Police Commissioner Bhargava said that some fabrication work was going on when the fire started. “As per the primary investigation, some fabrication work was in progress and sparks generated during welding work started the fire,” Bhargava said, adding, “We are also probing if any electric short-circuit was the cause of the fire.”

Meanwhile, Rajkot Collector Prabhav Joshi said that DNA samples of bodies recovered from the site of the fire and their likely kin were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar. He also said that nine people were injured but added that out of them, six had been discharged from hospital.

The police commissioner said it would take a few hours to identify bodies. “The DNA matching process will take at least 36 hours as experts have to extract DNA from bone marrow and then match it with DNA of the kin of the victims,” Bhargava said.

Earlier on Sunday, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel flew to Rajkot, visited the accident site, enquired about the health of those injured and also met the kin of victims. Later on, he held a meeting with officers of the district administration, the local police as well as Rajkot Municipal Corporation. Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi has been camping in Rajkot since 2 am Sunday.

Meanwhile, the SIT formed by the government under the chairmanship of Subhash Trivedi, additional director general of police (CID crime), started its probe into the incident. IAS officer Banchhanidhi Pani, commissioner of technical education, H P Sanghvi, director of Forensic Science Laboratory, Gandhinagar, J N Khadiya, chief fire officer of Ahmedabad, and M B Desai, superintending engineer of road and buildings department, are the others members of the SIT. The SIT has been asked to give its primary report within three days.