A tragic update has emerged regarding the gaming zone fire in Rajkot, Gujarat, where at least 27 people, including children, perished last Saturday. The list of those arrested now includes new names.
Dhaval Thakkar, one of the owners of the TRP Game Zone amusement park, was arrested after authorities identified the bodies of 11 out of the 28 victims through DNA testing and handed them over to their families.
Bharat Basiya, Assistant Commissioner of the Rajkot Crime Branch, explained, “Based on our intelligence, the local crime branch of Banaskantha police detained Dhaval Thakkar from Abu Road and handed him over to us. He was formally arrested at 10:30 am on Tuesday for his role in the fire at TRP Game Zone.”
A Rajkot court subsequently placed Thakkar in 13-day police custody. Thakkar, who established TRP Game Zone on Nana Mava Road in 2021, fled after the fire broke out on May 25. With the assistance of Banaskantha police, he was apprehended in Abu Road. Thakkar, a resident of Ahmedabad, also runs Dhaval Corporation, one of the firms operating the game zone.
The police also arrested Yuvrajsinh Solanki, Nitin Jain (alias Nitin Lodha), and Rahul Rathod, who are associated with Raceway Enterprise, the firm that later joined TRP Game Zone. Solanki and Rathod are partners, while Jain was the manager.
The Special Public Prosecutor, Tushar Gokani, highlighted that 33 people were working at the game zone and that Thakkar’s information is crucial for the investigation. Thakkar’s arrest followed a surprise operation by Banaskantha police, who detained him in a market in Abu Road.
The cause of the fire, captured on CCTV footage, was a spark from welding work in the extension area, which ignited plywood and wooden sheets, quickly spreading the blaze within 30 minutes.
