Rajkot Game Zone Fire tragedy: Six partners arrested

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat police have arrested one more partner of the Rajkot-based TRP game zone where a devastating fire last week killed 27 persons, an official said on Tuesday.

Four partners

Dhaval Thakkar, the proprietor of Dhaval Corporation, which ran the TRP game zone along with five partners of Raceway Enterprises, was arrested from Abu Road in neighbouring Rajasthan, Banaskantha Superintendent of Police Akshayraj Makwana said.

With this, four persons have so far been arrested in connection with the fire incident at the game zone on Saturday.

"Thakkar was arrested from Abu Road in a joint operation carried out by the Rajkot and Banaskantha police last night," Makwana said.

14-day remand

The police had earlier arrested Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Rahul Rathod, partners in the Raceway Enterprises, and game zone manager Nitin Jain. They were on Monday sent to 14-day police custody by a court in Rajkot.

The court of additional judicial magistrate BP Thakar remanded Yuvrajsinh Solanki, Nitin Jain and Rahul Rathod in police custody for two weeks, special public prosecutor Tushar Gokani said.

“The main ground for 14-day remand was that the arrested accused persons are not cooperating with the investigation, they are giving evasive replies to whatever questions are asked and whatever documents are sought from them," Gokani said.

FIR against six persons

The police have registered an FIR against six persons - Thakkar, Solanki, Rathod, and Raceway Enterprises partners Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja and Prakashchand Hiran - in connection with the fire incident.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 337 (causing hurt by an act that endangers the life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt to a person by doing an act that endangers their life or personal safety) and 114 (someone present when offence is committed).

SIT to investigate the fire

The state government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a probe into the incident and announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each deceased.

The central government has also announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased person.

Nine bodies of 27 identified

The identities of nine bodies recovered have been established through DNA analysis, said Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Monday.

As many as 27 persons, including children, were killed. Since the bodies were charred beyond recognition, the state government is taking the help of a forensic science lab to identify the victims through DNA profiling.

As the process is time-consuming, several anxious families waiting outside the Rajkot civil hospital to collect the bodies of their kin got into a heated argument with local police on Monday