The number of arrests in the Rajkot fire case has gone up to four with the nabbing of Dhaval Thakkar, one of the owners of TRP Game Zone. He was picked up from Abu Road town in Rajasthan late on Monday. A local court in Rajkot sent him to 13-day police custody late on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, bodies of 11 out of 28 people killed in the fire at the amusement park, were identified through DNA testing and were handed over to their relatives.
“Based on the intelligence we had provided, the local crime branch of the Banaskantha police detained Dhaval Thakkar from Abu Road and then handed him over to our team. Subsequently, he was brought to Rajkot and formally arrested at 10.30 am on Tuesday for his role in the fire at TRP Game Zone,” Bharat Basiya, assistant commissioner of the Rajkot crime branch, said.
As per the police, Thakkar was the one who set up TRP Game Zone, an indoor and outdoor gaming facility on a party plot on Nana Mava Road in 2021. In 2023, Raceway Enterprise, a partnership firm, joined the venture and added to its bouquet of outdoor games. Raceway Enterprise has Yuvrajsinh Solanki (30) Rahul Rathod (28), Ashoksinh Jadeja and his brother Kiritsinh Jadeja as its partners.
The ACP, who is investigating officer of the case, said that Thakkar had run away after TRP Gaze Zone caught fire on the evening of May 25.
“He had run away after his gaming zone caught fire on Saturday. However, we were able to trace his movement and with the help of the Banaskantha police, we managed to nab him,” Basaiya said.
A resident of AhmedabadThakkar is the proprietor of Dhaval Corporation, one of the two firms that were running TRP Game Zone. While seeking remand of the accused, Tushar Gokani, special public prosecutor for the case told the magesterial court that 33 persons were working at TRP Game Zone and Thakkar is the one who can provide their whereabouts for the purpose of investigation of the offence.
The police arrested Yuvrajsinh Solanki and Nitin Jain alias Nitin Lodha on Sunday and Rahul Rathod on Monday. Solanki and Rathod are partners in Raceway Enterprise, the other firm that was jointly running TRP Game Zone. Jain was the manager of the gaming facility.
VG Prajapati, police inspector of the Banaskantha local crime branch, said that his team took Thakkar by surprise. “Our team members, who were dressed in civil clothes, surrounded Thakkar when he was standing outside a shop in a market in Abu Road and detained him,” he said.
A local court in Rajkot on Monday evening sent Solanki, Jain and Rathod to the custody of the Rajkot crime branch for 14 days. The crime branch was to produce Thakkar before a magistrate on Tuesday evening with a remand application.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 28-05-2024 at 18:37 IST
