Rajkot fire: Game zone co-owner held, arrests in case rise to 10
Rajkot (PTI): Police have arrested a co-owner of the Rajkot game zone, where a fire claimed 27 lives last month, taking the number of arrests in the case to ten, an official said on Friday.
Ashoksinh Jadeja, one of the six owners of the TRP game zone, surrendered before the police on Thursday evening, the official said.
Jadeja, who owns the land on which the game zone had come up, had been absconding after a fire devastated the recreation facility on May 25 in Gujarat's Rajkot city.
Rajkot Police Commissioner Brajesh Kumar Jha confirmed on Friday that Jadeja is in the custody of the crime branch after his surrender.
Earlier, police had arrested five co-owners and a manager of the game zone. They also took into custody four government officials, including Rajkot's Town Planning Officer (TPO) M D Sagathia, assistant TPOs Mukesh Makwana and Gautam Joshi, and former station officer of Kalavad Road fire station Rohit Vigora.
During the probe, it was confirmed that one of the co-owners, Prakash Hiran who was named in the FIR and missing since the tragedy, had died in the deadly fire as he was inside the facility when it was gutted.
CCTV camera footage showed the fire started after sparks fell on thermocol (polystrene) sheets during welding work on the ground floor. Though workers present there tried to douse the fire with fire extinguishers, it spread quickly and eventually engulfed the game zone.
According to the police, the game zone was being operated without any no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.
Several game zones and other recreation hubs were sealed across the state after the Rajkot incident and FIRs were also filed against the owners for running such facilities without any permissions.
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Mustafa Bengre elected District President of SIO Dakshina Kannada for 2026 term
Mangaluru: Mustafa Bengre has been unanimously elected as the District President of the Students Islamic Organisation of India, Dakshina Kannada Unit (SIO DK), for the 2026 term. The election was conducted through an internal organisational process, led by SIO Karnataka State Secretary Sufyan Zain.
Mustafa Bengre holds a BBA degree from Mangalore University and is a resident of Kasba Bengre in Mangaluru. He is currently working as a sales executive at Vibro Aqua.
He has previously served as the District Secretary of SIO Dakshina Kannada, City Secretary of SIO Mangaluru and has been actively involved in several social service initiatives in Bengre and across the Dakshina Kannada district.
