2 fire officers among 3 more held for Rajkot arcade blaze

RAJKOT: Rajkot's chief fire officer and deputy fire officer were among three persons arrested on Saturday in connection with the May 25 TRP Game Zone fire tragedy, taking the total number of arrests to 15.
The crime branch arrested chief fire officer Ilesh Kher (45), deputy fire officer Bhikha Theba (54), and the fabrication contractor of the gaming zone, Mahesh Rathod (60).Theba is already in jail after being arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in a disproportionate assets case and the crime branch took his custody from the jail on a transfer warrant.
The investigators also made a shocking revelation that in the past two years, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation's fire department had not checked any building that did not have the fire NOC.
Rathod is the uncle of Rahul Rathod, a welder arrested earlier, and is also a partner in the gaming zone. The fire broke out due to sparks from the welding during the fabrication work in the proposed snow park being carried out under Mahesh's supervision.
"We have collected sufficient evidence against three accused before arresting them," said a police statement.
A senior police officer told TOI: "Despite receiving a copy of the licence from police, the fire officers did not care to check the NOC of the game zone. We have collected the information of the last two years and found that the fire department did not proactively seal a single building that did not have fire NOC."
According to police, the fire officers only conducted mock drills and checked premises that had fire NOCs for sufficient fire-fighting equipment.