May 28, 2024 11:53 PM IST
Hiran’s brother, Jitendra, reported him missing, saying he was inside the gaming zone when the fire broke out.
In the massive fire that engulfed TRP Gamezone in Rajkot, Gujarat, killing at least 27 people including children on May 25, one of the owners of the gaming zone Prakash Hiran also died. CCTV footage showed Hiran at the scene, and his car was found at the site of the fire, NDTV reported.
Hiran’s brother, Jitendra, reported him missing, saying he was inside the gaming zone when the fire broke out. The forensics department took DNA samples from their mother and confirmed today that Prakash was also killed in the fire. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition, so the police used DNA tests to identify them.
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Rajkot fire | Game zone owner put up ‘crying act’ and then was ‘laughing’ in court…’: Public prosecutor
Prakash, who owned 60 per cent of the gaming zone, was a partner in Raceway Enterprises and was named as an accused by the Gujarat Police. The police named six people in the First Information Report (FIR) — Dhaval Thakkar, the main accused and the owner of Dhaval Enterprises; and partners of Raceway Enterprises Ashoksinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Jadeja, Prakash Hiran, Yuvrajsinh Solanki, and Rahul Rathod. They all ran the game zone where the fire happened.
Three of the accused were sent to police custody for 14 days. Special Public Prosecutor Tushar Gokani said on Tuesday, “Today the accused were brought before the honourable court and further police custody of 14 days was sought. Out of 6 accused named in the FIR, 3 accused persons were arrested, of which two are named in the FIR and one of them was not named.”
Editorial: What Rajkot fire disaster tells us
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Gujarat government, which is investigating the incident, has questioned over 25 people and taken various documents, a senior officer told PTI.
Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, said on Monday that the SIT has taken all the files related to the game zone for investigation. DNA analysis has identified nine bodies from the TRP Game Zone fire.
On the same day, the state government transferred Rajkot police commissioner Raju Bhargava, two other IPS officers, and municipal commissioner Anand Patel.
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