Three accused in the gaming zone fire case being produced before the Rajkot court
A court in Gujarat's Rajkot city Monday sent three men arrested in connection with the game zone fire that claimed 27 lives to 14-day police remand.
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," Mr Gokani said.
The prosecution also told the court that the main accused in the case are still on the run.
Mr Gokani said that when asked about certain documents, the accused claimed they got burnt in the fire. The main ground for their remand is to seek their cooperation and elicit the truth, he said.
"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," Mr Gokani said.
He said that 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," Mr Gokani said.
An FIR was registered against six partners of the TRP game zone on charges of culpable homicide after a blaze there killed 27 persons, including children, on May 25. The police have arrested three persons, including two named in the FIR. The name of the third person cropped up during during investigation.
Two partners in Raceway Enterprise, which operated the TRP game zone, Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Rahul Rathod, and the manager of the recreation centre, Nitin Jain, are now in police custody.
The six accused - proprietor of Dhaval Corporation Dhaval Thakkar, as well as partners of Raceway Enterprises Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja, Prakashchand Hiran, Yuvrajsinh Solanki, and Rahul Rathod - had partnered to run the game zone where the fire occurred.
They have been booked under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide), 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).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)