Following a massive fire that claimed 33 lives at a gaming zone in Rajkot, police on Sunday said they had registered an FIR against six partners on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and had taken into custody two individuals.
Rajkot Police Commissioner Raju Bhargava told reporters that the gaming zone had been given a booking licence by the local police in November 2023. The licence was then renewed for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024.
“The game zone had received permissions from the roads and buildings department. It had also submitted a proof of fire safety equipment to obtain the fire NOC which was under process and not yet completed,” the official said.
Officials had stated that 27 people, including four children, died and three more were injured in the enormous fire that spread over the TRP Gamezone in the Nana Mava area on Saturday evening.
The accused allegedly used metal sheet fabrication to build a game zone that measured 50 meters in width and 60 metres in length, with a height comparable to a two- or three-storey building, according to the FIR.
The FIR stated that they knew a fire in such a building may result in injuries and deaths, but they did not have the necessary fire fighting equipment and had not received the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the local fire department, putting people’s lives in jeopardy.
Rajkot Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Parthrajsinh Gohil stated that two people have been detained thus far: Yuvrajsinh Solanki, a partner in Raceway Enterprise, who owned the TRP Gamezone, and Nitin Jain, the manager of the entertainment facility.
According to the FIR, the six individuals against whom the Rajkot district police filed the complaint are Dhaval Thakkar, the owner of Dhaval Corporation, Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja, PrakashChand Hiran, Yuvrajsinh Solanki, and Rahul Rathod, partners in Raceway Enterprise.
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 offence is committed), as per the FIR.
Four different teams of the crime branch have been formed to nab the four absconding accused, Bhargava said.
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