Prime accused in Rajkot TRP game zone fire incident arrested

RAJKOT : The main accused in the Rajkot TRP game zone fire incident was arrested by Banaskantha Local Crime Branch police and Rajkot Police on Sunday, said police.

The accused has been identified as Dhaval Thakkar, a resident of Abu Road. He had fled after the fire broke out in the game zone, which claimed 28 lives.

Earlier, three men arrested in connection with the game zone fire were sent to a 14-day police remand by a court in the Rajkot district on Monday.

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

Speaking to the media on Monday, Special Public Prosecutor Tushar Gokani said, “Today the accused were brought before the honourable court and further police custody of 14 days was sought. Out of 6 accused named in the FIR, 3 accused persons were arrested, of which two are named in the FIR and one of them was not named.”

“The main ground of remand was that they were not cooperating during the investigation. They (the accused) are giving ‘evasive replies’ to whatever questions are asked and whatever documents are asked. They are saying it was burnt in the incident. They are not cooperating in the investigation and that was the main ground—to seek their cooperation and elicit the truth from them,” said the official.

“We told the court that the main accused are on the run, and these accused persons make evasive replies and are not cooperating with the investigating agencies,” Gokani said.

He said that the accused Solanki, tried to put up an act in his bid to express before the court that he was filled with remorse for whatever happened. “When he entered the court, he tried to project that he had remorse for the incident and everyone felt that he was crying. After five minutes, he was laughing and arguing with the court,” Gokani said.

“This very accused seemed like he was crying as soon as he entered the court but in just a few minutes he started laughing and he said that ‘these kinds of things happen,’ which was taken in a serious note by the honourable court,” said Gokani.

The Gujarat government ordered the suspension of seven officials, including two police inspectors and civic staff of Rajkot Municipal Corporation, for dereliction of duty in connection with the fire incident at a gaming zone in Rajkot.

Following the incident, all the gaming zones in Vadodara were inspected and temporarily shut down. (ANI)