Rajkot police chief transferred after fire at gaming zone kills 28
Rajkot/IBNS: Days after the horrific fire at a gaming zone in Gujarat's Rajkot killed 28 including nine children, city police chief Raju Bhargava has been transferred and has not been assigned a new post at this time.
He will be replaced by Brajesh Kumar Jha, the Special Commissioner of Police from Ahmedabad.
Besides Bhargava, Rajkot City's Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration, Traffic, and Crime) Vidhi Choudhary, has also been moved out and has not yet received a new post.
In her place comes Mahendra Bagria, ex-Deputy Inspector General for the Kutchh-Bhuj (West) zone.
Sudhirkumar Desai, who was Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rajkot City, Zone 2), has been dropped for Jagdish Bangwara, formerly the Superintendent of Vadodara's Central Prison.
The Gujarat High Court earlier in the day rapped the state government and local body over their lapses.
The court ripped apart the local body and state government, both ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over the operation of the two gaming zones for about 2 years each without required permits.
The high court stated as quoted by NDTV, "This has been going on for two-and-a-half years (referring to the Rajkot gaming zone). Are we to assume you turned a blind eye? What do you and your followers do?"
The court came down heavily upon the government after a few Rajkot municipal body officers were seen at the gaming stations.
"Who were these officers? Did they go there to play?" the court said.
In a fiery remark, it added, "Have you gone blind? Did you fall asleep? Now we do not trust the local system and the state."
The gaming zone, called TRP, was packed with visitors due to a weekend discount offer with tickets priced at just Rs. 99 when the fire broke out.
It is suspected that the fire might have started due to a short circuit, but officials said that the exact cause will be known only after a probe.
The intensity of the fire was such that smoke was visible from several kilometers away. The bodies were charred beyond recognition, officials said. The DNA samples of the bodies and the victim's relatives have been collected for identification.
The owner and manager of the TRP game zone, where the fire broke out on Saturday evening, have been detained.
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