Rajkot gaming zone tragedy: Top cop, civic body chief and two IPS officers transferred

On Monday, the Gujarat government transferred six Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, including the Rajkot Police Commissioner, in connection with the deadly fire that claimed 27 lives  including children at a gaming zone in the city last week.

Rajkot's Police Commissioner Raju Bhargava has been replaced by IPS officer Brijesh Kumar Jha.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration, Traffic and Crime) of Rajkot City Vidhi Choudhary and Sudhirkumar J Desai, DCP-Zone 2, have also been transferred, a government notification stated.

The Gujarat government has also transferred the Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Anand Patel. He is replaced by DP Desai who is currently the CEO of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA).

The high-profile transfers were announced after the Gujarat High Court ripped into Rajkot Municipal Corporation and state government, asking them whether they had turned a blind eye to such a big structure coming up in its vicinity.

All Rajkot municipal commissioners, from the establishment of the TRP game zone in 2021 until the incident on May 25, "should be held accountable for the tragedy that occurred," the court noted.

Consequently, the court has also directed each of them to submit individual affidavits.

The high court said that it does not have faith in the state machinery "which gets into action only after innocent lives are lost".

"Who will take such drastic steps? Honestly speaking, we do not have faith in the state machinery now. Four years after orders of this court, directing them, after their assurance, this is the sixth incident that has happened. They only want lives to be lost and then trigger the machinery," the bench stated.

Today the Gujarat government ordered the suspension of seven officials in connection with the fire tragedy.

Those who have been suspended include Rajkot Municipal Corporation's town planning department assistant engineer Jaideep Chaudhary, assistant town planner for RMC Gautam Joshi, Rajkot Roads and Buildings department's deputy executive engineers MR Suma and Paras Kothiya, and police inspectors VR Patel and NI Rathod.