Premium

Rajkot TRP game zone fire: SC dismisses plea, all 15 accused to face trial for culpable homicide not amounting to murder

SC dismisses Vigora's Special Leave Petition filed Rajkot Municipal Corporation former fire officer stating it did not find "a good ground to interfere with the impugned judgement" of the Gujarat HC, which had dismissed discharge petitions filed by several accused.

3 min readDec 4, 2025 08:41 PM IST

All 15 accused will now face trial for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The court noted that the prosecution was yet to examine four witnesses in the case involving his social media posts and that it would take time (File Photo)

The Supreme Court has dismissed a Special Leave Petition filed by suspended fire officer of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation Rohit Vigora, seeking discharge from the charges framed by the Rajkot Sessions Court and from the Section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in the May 2024 TRP game zone fire in Rajkot that killed 27 people.

All 15 accused booked in the case will now face the trial for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The Supreme Court bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in an order dated November 18, dismissed Vigora’s petition stating that the apex court did not find “a good ground to interfere with the impugned judgement” of the Gujarat High Court, which had dismissed the discharge petitions filed by several accused in the TRP game zone fire case.

The accused had sought discharge from Section 304 Part 2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, under which the charges were framed by the Rajkot Sessions court after considering the draft submitted by the prosecution.

Special Public Prosecutor Tushar Gokani had laid emphasis on framing charges under Section 304 (Part 2), stating that incriminating evidence had been collected by the Investigating Officers against the accused for pressing charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

In his submissions during the framing of charges in the Sessions Court, Gokani had stated that the accused, merely on the basis of their pleas, could not raise doubt about the evidence produced by the prosecution without cross-examining witnesses or putting forth reliable evidence against the statements of the witnesses.

As many as 27 people were killed in the fire that broke out in the TRP game zone in Rajkot on May 25, 2024. The game zone had not obtained a fire NOC and was running allegedly in connivance with the civic authorities concerned. Subsequently, 15 people including the partners and managers of the TRP game zone as well as officials of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation were booked in the case.

Some of the accused officers of RMC– Town Planning Officer (TPO) Mansukh Sagathiya, Assistant TPO Rajesh Makwana and Gautam Joshi, former Assistant Engineer Jaideep Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Officer Bhikha Theba, Nitin Thakkar and Nitin Jain had moved a discharge application before the Sessions Court after the chargesheet was filed by the police, before the court framed charges in the case.

Story continues below this ad

The pleas were rejected by the Sessions Court, which had considered the submissions of the prosecution that the courts can evaluate merits of the evidence in a limited manner while deciding on petitions seeking discharge from Sections under which the charges have been framed as the law does not permit a “mini trial” to examine in detail the evidence gathered for the trial.

The accused had earlier appealed in the Gujarat High Court against the charges framed by the Sessions Court, which was dismissed by the HC. Thereafter, Vigora moved the Supreme Court.