Six employees of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) have been arrested in connection with the deadly fire at the TRP game zone on May 25, which claimed 27 lives. A police investigation has suggested that the civic employees conspired to forge documents and make backdated entries a day after the incident in an attempt to destroy evidence and evade arrest.
The probe indicated that the arrested RMC employees conspired to approve the impact plan of the TRP zone by making backdated entries in the inward register on May 26, showing them as having been made on May 4, 2024. They also drafted a query letter dated May 9, 2024, related to the forged entry, according to the investigation officer’s application before Additional Judicial Magistrate B P Thakar on Friday.
Police stated that the accused created a new register with fake details and destroyed the original one. They presented false information recorded in the fake register and tampered with the inward register at the RMC’s west zone office. These actions were intended to show that the game zone management had applied for regularization of the facility and that the RMC had raised queries regarding it.
The court has allowed the police to invoke multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code against the six arrested RMC employees, including forgery, destruction of evidence, and criminal conspiracy.
Previously, RMC’s Town Planning Officer M D Sagathia, assistant TPOs Mukesh Makwana and Gautam Joshi, and former station officer of Kalavad Road fire station Rohit Vigora were arrested. On Saturday, assistant town planning officer Rajesh Makwana and assistant engineer Jaideep Chaudhary were also arrested for their alleged involvement in forging the register and destroying evidence, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Parthrajsinh Gohil.
Ashoksinh Jadeja, a co-owner of the game zone, surrendered to the police on Thursday evening. Jadeja is one of the six owners of the TRP game zone, five of whom have been arrested, while one died in the fire. Additionally, a manager of the game zone has been arrested.
CCTV footage revealed that the fire started after sparks from welding work fell on thermocol sheets on the ground floor. Despite workers’ efforts to extinguish the blaze, it spread quickly, engulfing the game zone. The police noted that the game zone was operating without a No Objection Certificate from the RMC’s fire department.
Following the Rajkot incident, several game zones and recreation hubs across the state were sealed, and FIRs were filed against their owners for operating without the required permissions.
Comments