Rajkot fire: SIT questions 25 persons, seizes documents

Rajkot, May 28 (PTI) The Special Investigation Team of the Gujarat government, probing the Rajkot game zone fire which killed 27 people, has questioned more than 25 persons and seized various documents so far, a senior officer said.

Separately, police have so far arrested four persons, including three partners and the TRP Game Zone manager, in the aftermath of the incident which occurred on May 25.

"The state government has given us clear instructions to conduct a free and fair probe to ensure that injustice is not meted out to anyone. We have so far conducted a preliminary probe and seized all the relevant documents related to the game zone and further investigation is on," said senior IPS officer Subhash Trivedi, who heads the SIT formed by the state government.

According to Trivedi, the probe revolves around finding the causes of the blaze and identifying people responsible for it.

"The state government wants to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future. We have so far questioned more than 25 persons in connection with this tragedy," he added.

The SIT consists of the commissioner of technical education BN Pani, the director of the forensic science laboratory, Gandhinagar, HP Sanghvi, the chief fire officer, Ahmedabad, JN Khadia, and the superintending engineer of the roads and buildings department, MB Desai.

A separate investigation is being conducted by Rajkot Police who have arrested Dhaval Thakkar of Dhaval Corporation which ran the TRP game zone, Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Rahul Rathod, partners in Raceway Enterprises, and game zone manager Nitin Jain.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Monday told media persons that the SIT had seized all the files related to the game zone for further investigation.

"All the relevant files from 2021 till 2024 were seized by the SIT in my presence from various departments," Sanghavi had said.

The identities of nine bodies recovered from the fire-ravaged TRP Game Zone have been established so far through DNA analysis.

The state government on Monday transferred Rajkot police commissioner Raju Bhargava, two other IPS officers and municipal commissioner Anand Patel.