The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to the former chief fire officer of Rajkot in a case pertaining to the blaze that broke out at a game arcade and killed 33 persons in May 2024, Live Law reported.

The fire had broken out on the evening of May 25, 2024, at a temporary structure at the TRP Game Zone in Gujarat’s Rajkot. Among those killed were nine children.

A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan said on Wednesday that the responsibility of the then-Chief Fire Officer Ileshkumar Valabhai Kher in the case was “extremely remote”.

Setting aside a Gujarat High Court order from January 20 that denied bail him bail, the bench said Kher had already spent a year in custody and the trial is not likely to begin anytime soon.

The police have named 15 persons in the chargesheet, alleging that the fire spread within five minutes due to the presence of highly inflammable construction material at the site.

Investigations also showed that the game zone lacked the required no-objection certificate and permissions.

The accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide and causing hurt by an act that endangers lives or personal safety of others.

In June 2024, the Gujarat High Court directed that a fact-finding committee be established to investigate the TRP Game Zone incident and identify the inaction of senior officers in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation that led to it.

The role of all municipal commissioners who served in the corporation from “the first date when the first pillar was installed of the TRP Gaming Zone, till the date when the tragic incident of fire has occurred” will be examined, said the court.

The state government “shall not spare anyone found guilty or being irresponsible”, it added.