Vinod Pandit Savle set fire to 14 shops in Surat's Shyam Sangini Textile Market on the night of September 8‑9. The blaze consumed at least ₹24 crore worth of fabric and left a smoldering wake of ash.
Savle had worked at Shop No 639 for roughly three months before quitting in June after being unable to manage the accounts. According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Karanraj Vaghela, the accountant claimed the owner owed him ₹10,000 in unpaid wages. Savle reportedly wanted to 'teach the owner a lesson,' a motive the police say drove his planning.
He entered the market around 9 p.m. on September 8, hiding near the fifth‑floor staircase, and waited until the corridor emptied at 12:30 a.m. CCTV footage shows him, face veiled with a white cloth and a plastic bag slung over his shoulder, reaching the sixth floor and pouring a petrol‑filled bottle onto cloth parcels outside the shop. The first match failed; the second ignited the material, and the fire spread rapidly across several stores. Firefighters battled the inferno for hours before bringing it under control.
Savle was apprehended by a Crime Branch team near Flower Garden in Dindoli on September 10, after fleeing to Rajasthan and Ayodhya. The police are scrutinizing the petrol pump for possible negligence, and investigators are questioning whether any accomplices were involved. One shop owner, whose family had invested ₹2 crore in the market, described the loss as 'devastating' and feared for the livelihoods of the 200 workers.