TRP Game Zone fire: Rajkot civic body suspends chief fire officer

The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Thursday suspended the city’s Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Ilesh Kher in connection with last month’s TRP Game Zone fire, making him the eighth municipal official to face such action.

This comes a day after he was arrested on charges of culpable homicide.

Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Devang Desai told sources that the CFO spent more than 48 hours in police custody, which deems him to be suspended.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Kher and Deputy CFO Bhikha Theba on Saturday for their alleged acts of omission after a blaze at the gaming zone in Rajkot’s Nana Mava Road on May 25 killed 27 people.

The officials were booked under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) among other provisions of the law.

They are currently in judicial custody.

The SIT investigation has allegedly revealed that the gaming zone’s indoor tin shed facilities did not have due clearances from the town planning department and RMC fire and emergency department.

The investigation team further told a magisterial court on May 31 that RMC officers did not act against the gaming zone despite knowing this fact, thus committing “illegal act of omission.”

According to him, the game zone fire could have been avoided if the CFO had ensured there was enough fire-fighting equipment.