Rajkot TRP Game Zone fire: SIT to submit report in 3 days; 25 victims identified

Rajkot TRP Game Zone fire: The SIT informed that the DNA samples of the 27 victims and their kin were collected for the identification of the deceased.

A day after at least 27 persons, including four children, were killed in a massive fire at the TRP Game Zone in Gujarat's Rajkot, the five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) held a meeting with the local administration in Rajkot during the wee hours of Sunday. During the meeting, the SIT was asked to submit the preliminary report of the incident within three days.

Rajkot TRP Gaming Zone Fire: At least 27 people, including four children, died.

Earlier, additional director general of police Subhash Trivedi, who is heading the SIT, assured to find those responsible for the tragedy and ensure no such incident is repeated.

The SIT also informed that the DNA samples of the 27 victims and their kin were collected and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar for the identification of the deceased.

25 victims identified

According to a report by The Indian Express, 25 out of the 27 victims have been identified so far. Out of the total victims, at least four are children under the age of 12. However, only two children have been identified so far, the report said.

The police said that three more people were injured in the incident and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. “Their condition is stable,” Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vinayak Patel told PTI.

Meanwhile, Gujarat home minister Harsh Sanghvi said that one person is still missing in the incident. “Our first priority is that...as per the information we have, one person is still missing and it is our responsibility to look for the person. We are deploying maximum teams for that,” he told the media.

Fire engulfed gaming zone within minutes

Shortly after the fire department was alerted about the massive fire at the gaming zone, the fire officials reached the incident spot within seven minutes, a report by The Indian Express said. However, the fire was so huge that it had engulfed the entire game zone within minutes.

Following the incident, the state government formed a five-member SIT to probe the incident. The team consists of the commissioner of technical education BN Pani; the director of forensic science laboratory, Gandhinagar, HP Sanghvi; the chief fire officer, Ahmedabad, JN Khadia; and superintending engineer of roads and buildings department, MB Desai. The team is headed by additional director general of police Subhash Trivedi.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet known.

The owner and manager of the game zone have been arrested so far, the police said. Reportedly, the game zone has three partners: Prakash Jain, Yuvraj Singh Solanki, and Rahul Rathod.

Meanwhile, Rajkot police commissioner Raju Bhargava told the media that a message had been issued to all the gaming zones in the city to close operations.

(With inputs from agencies)