Rajkot game zone fire: 2 civic staffers held for tampering with documents
Rajkot (PTI): Two employees of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) have been arrested for allegedly making certain changes in documents pertaining to a game zone after a fire there last month claimed 27 lives, police said on Sunday.
With this, 12 persons, including six government employees, have so been arrested in connection with the May 25 incident at the TRP game zone in Gujarat's Rajkot city, they said
The city crime branch on Saturday arrested RMC's assistant town planning officer Rajesh Makwana and assistant engineer Jaideep Chaudhary for their alleged involvement in making changes in an official register after the fire incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Parthrajsinh Gohil said.
"They made certain changes in government documents related to the TRP game zone after the fire incident. They also forged documents," he said.
"So far we have arrested six government employees and six other persons in connection with the TRP game zone fire," Gohil said.
The four government employees arrested earlier include Rajkot's Town Planning Officer M D Sagathia, assistant TPOs Mukesh Makwana and Gautam Joshi, and former station officer of Kalavad Road fire station Rohit Vigora.
A co-owner of the game zone, Ashoksinh Jadeja, surrendered before the police on Thursday evening.
Jadeja is one of the six owners of the TRP game zone. Five of them have been so far arrested and one died in the May 25 fire.
A manager of the game zone has also been arrested in the case.
During a probe into the incident, it was confirmed that one of the co-owners of the game zone, Prakash Hiran, who was named in the FIR and was missing since the tragedy, died in the deadly fire as he was inside the facility when it was gutted, according to police.
A 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 blaze with fire extinguishers, it spread quickly and eventually engulfed the game zone.
According to police, the game zone was being operated without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the RMC's fire department.
After the Rajkot incident, several game zones and other recreation hubs were sealed across the state and FIRs were also filed against the owners for running such facilities without requisite permissions.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
