A fire broke out in a textile market in Gujarat's industrial city Surat on the night of 9 September, which took the fire brigade about 14 hours to extinguish.
A loss of goods worth about Rs 24 crore is being claimed in this arson.
Initially it was considered an accident, but later police investigation revealed that the fire was deliberately set.
According to the police, a person named Vinod Pandit Savle had a dispute with his master regarding the outstanding salary.
For this reason he had set fire to Shyam Sangini Textile Market.
After setting the fire, the accused fled to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, but was eventually arrested by the police.
In Surat, after midnight of 8th September i.e. in the morning of 9th September, a fire broke out on the sixth floor of Shyam Sangini Textile Market located near Kumbhariya Teen Road.
Incidents of fire occur frequently in the textile market of Surat, because a large quantity of cloth is kept in the market, which can catch fire instantly.
Apart from this, electrical wires are also hanging dangerously at many places.
Initially it was believed that the fire in Shyam Sangini Textile Market might have started due to similar reasons.
But examination of CCTV footage revealed that a person had sprinkled inflammable substance on a cloth parcel and set it on fire. After this he ran away from there.
On the basis of CCTV footage, the accused was identified and the accused named Vinod Pandit Savle was arrested.
According to the police, the accused is accused of working as an accountant at Hanuman Prasad, a businessman of Jagdamba Textile, at market shop number 639, at a monthly salary of Rs 30,000.
After leaving the job, he had a dispute with the businessman. The businessman had refused to pay his outstanding salary of Rs 10,000.
Police believe that for this reason he set fire to the businessman to teach him a lesson.
According to Surat Police, they have received a complaint that due to this fire there has been a loss of goods worth about Rs 24 crore.
Surat's Additional DCP (Crime) Karanraj Vaghela told the media, "The accused named Vinod Pandit Savle had set the fire on fire to teach Seth a lesson over the outstanding amount of Rs 10,000 after leaving the job."
He claimed, "The accused had purchased petrol worth Rs 150 from a petrol pump in Dindoli and lit a match after sprinkling petrol on a cloth parcel kept outside the shop. After this the accused fled to Khatushyam Temple and Ayodhya in Rajasthan. Ultimately when the accused was returning to Surat, he was caught near Dindoli Flower Garden."
He also said, "On the day of the incident, the accused had gone to the textile market at 9 pm and remained sitting on the fifth floor, waiting for the shop to close."
"When Seth left the shop after closing it, he set it on fire after 12 o'clock in the night. Next day when the name of the accused came up, he switched off his mobile phone and ran away."
The day after the fire, Surat Municipal Corporation Deputy Commissioner Dharmesh Mistry had told the media, "At 12.50 pm, the fire department received a call about this fire. The fire broke out on the top floor."
It took more than 14 hours to extinguish the fire. During this time all the shops on that floor were burnt. Apart from this, the goods of some shops on the fifth floor below were also burnt.
During the investigation of this incident, CCTV footage showed that a person with a handkerchief tied over his mouth was spraying something on a parcel of clothes and then setting it on fire.
On the basis of this, the police had registered an FIR against an unknown person. Later Savle was identified.
According to the police, the businessman under whom Vinod Savle used to work used to scold him by finding fault in everything he said. That's why he left the job a month ago.
According to the police, "But his salary of Rs 10,000 was outstanding. He called the businessman several times to collect the money and also met face to face, but the businessman pushed him away."
"Therefore, he took this step to teach the businessman a lesson by burning the parcels of clothes kept outside the shop."
Additional DCP (Crime) Karanraj Vaghela said, "After setting the goods on fire, Vinod Savle left the place and fled on his motorcycle."
"Instead of going to his home, he had gone to Ayodhya in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and returned to Surat on Sunday night. Meanwhile, based on the information received by the police team, he was caught from Dindoli area."
