After three days of the Rajkot fire tragedy, the special investigation team (SIT) submitted a report of its preliminary investigation today in Gandhinagar.

Gujarat Minister of Home Harsh Sanghavi held a meeting today in Gandhinagar where SIT chief IPS Subhash Trivedi and the chief secretary of the state IAS Raj Kumar submitted the report.

“We had only 24 hours of preliminary investigation, and many departments of the state government were involved. It may have happened for the first time in the nation that the work of DNA matching has been done quickly,” said Trivedi.

Other officials present at the meeting were Director General of Police Vikas Sahay, Technical Education Commissioner IAS Banchha Nidhi Pani, FSL Director Hitesh Sanghvi, Ahmedabad's Chief Fire Officer JN Khadia, as well as Superintendent Engineer from the Roads and Buildings Department, MB Desai.

Sanghavi said that an investigation would be conducted to ensure justice for the deceased. All the bureaucrats will be summoned and interrogated in 1-2 days.

A crime will be registered under the Petroleum Act regarding the quantity of petrol and diesel present at the site.

Why was the site bulldozered immediately?

SIT head Trivedi said, “Those who are responsible for the fire incident including IAS or IPS officers, will not be spared, and they will be responsible for law enforcement.”

Responding to questions about the progress of the excavation work, he said, “The work of searching for the remains of missing persons was crucial, and the intention was not to destroy evidence. There are some missing persons whose remains are present, which we can identify through DNA. Therefore, based on DNA, FSL can provide accurate information about the missing persons to their relatives. And that is why excavation was done swiftly.”

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