A Rs 24-Crore 'Revenge' Over Rs 10,000: Surat Textile Hub Blaze Wasn't An Accident

An accountant exacted a Rs 24-crore "revenge" on an entire textile market over a Rs 10,000 pending salary that his employer owed him, using all of Rs 150 on petrol and two strikes of matches, police in Gujarat's Surat said on Tuesday. A fire initially thought of as an accident ended up being a major crime upon investigation, leading to the Crime Branch arresting a man named Vinod Pandit Savle.The case was cracked as security camera footage showed a man, with his face covered, allegedly starting the fire from parcels of cloth outside a shop in Shyam Sangini Textile Market on the night of September 8-9. It spread to at least 14 shops and reduced Rs 24 crore worth of fabric to ashes, police said.Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Karanraj Vaghela said Savle had worked for about three months at Shop No 639 starting April 2026.