Partner Of Rajkot Gaming Zone Third To Be Arrested After Fire

The police on Monday arrested one of the partners of the ill-fated gaming zone in Gujarat's Rajkot, where 27 persons, including children, died in a fire, an official said.

The police have registered an FIR against six partners of the TRP gaming zone on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and had earlier arrested two persons in connection with the incident.

"The Rajkot police have arrested Rahul Rathod, one of the partners in the Raceway Enterprise, which operated the gaming zone. He is the third accused arrested in the case," said Rajkot Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Parthrajsinh Gohil.

The Rajkot taluka police have booked Dhaval Corporation's proprietor, Dhaval Thakkar, and Raceway Enterprise partners Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja, Prakashchand Hiran, Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Rahul Rathod in the case.

On Sunday, the police arrested one of the partners, Yuvrajsinh Solanki, and the entertainment facility's manager, Nitin Jain.

The three arrested accused are expected to be produced before the court in the evening, an official said.

Twenty-seven persons, including four children, were killed and three others injured in the massive fire that swept through the TRP game zone in the Nana Mava locality teeming with people on Saturday evening.

The accused 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 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 an offence is committed).

As per the FIR, the accused persons erected a 50-metre wide and 60-metre long structure with the height of a two to three-storey building using metal sheet fabrication to create a game zone.

They did not have proper fire fighting equipment and had not obtained the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local fire department, thereby endangering people's lives despite knowing that a blaze in such a structure could cause deaths and injuries, said the FIR.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said the government-appointed special investigation team (SIT) had seized all files related to the game zone for further investigation.

"The SIT has seized all relevant files from 2021 till 2024 in my presence from various departments such as the road and building department, police and Rajkot Municipal Corporation. We will not spare those found guilty of any wrongdoing," Sanghavi told reporters in Gandhinagar.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)