Rajkot gaming zone fire: 25 victims identified, SIT asked to submit primary report in 3 days

Rajkot district collector Prabhav Joshi said some bodies were charred beyond recognition. “DNA samples of bodies of victims and their kin were taken and flown to Gandhinagar for DNA matching for identification of bodies,” the collector told The Indian Express, adding that 25 of the 27 persons killed have been identified. “Two of the victims are children,” Joshi said.

“The first fire brigade team reached the spot of the incident within seven minutes after being alerted and started their work immediately. However, the fire was so huge that it had engulfed the entire game zone by then,” Sanghvi told the media in the early hours of Sunday after reaching Rajkot and visiting the accident site.

The home minister further said the owner and managers of the TRP gaming zone on Nana Mava Road of Rajkot were taken into custody. Nitin Jain is the manager of the gaming zone, and Yuvrajsinh Solanki is a co-owner. “Efforts are on to arrest others involved in this incident,” Sanghvi said.

Sanghvi also said that members of a high-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the fire accident were instructed to reach Rajkot overnight and start their work. “An SIT has been formed and all officers included in it have been instructed to report to Rajkot by 3 am,” said the minister.

A view from inside of the TRP game zone in Rajkot on Sunday morning.
(Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

The government has appointed Subhash Trivedi, the additional director general of police (CID-crime), as the chairman of the SIT. Other members are 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 the road and buildings department. The SIT has been asked to submit its primary report within three days and a final report within 10 days.

Meanwhile, Ilesh Kher, chief fire officer of Rajkot, told The Indian Express at 6.40 am that firemen were still removing debris from the accident site. “While no person is reported missing now, the work of removing debris from the site is still in progress,” he said.