Rajkot fire: Court sends 3 accused in police custody, co-owner arrested

A Rajkot court on 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," Gokani said.The prosecution also told the court that the main accused in the case are still on the run.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,” 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).
Meanwhile, the main accused in the case of a gaming zone fine in Gujarat's Rajkot has been arrested, the police said on Monday.The key accused Dhawal Thakkar was arrested from Abu Road in Rajasthan. The police received information that he had been hiding at his relative's house in Rajasthan.

(State Correspondent)