An accountant’s revenge: How Rs 10,000 dues triggered Surat textile hub blaze - The Indian Express

A man wearing a dark shirt and trousers of a lighter shade, and carrying a backpack of a dark colour on his shoulders, walks along a deserted corridor lined on both sides with large packages. Before he reaches the end, while he is still walking, he takes out something from his backpack.

At the end of the corridor, the man appears to spray or sprinkle something on the packages. He then lights what appears to be a match, and sets fire to the packages. As the flames burst out, he turns around and runs back in the direction he came from. His face is now visible; it is covered with cloth, and he appears to be wearing dark glasses.

This is the video that helped police in Surat solve the mystery of the fire that engulfed the Shyam Sangini textile market in the Saroli area of the city after midnight on September 8.

Vinod Salve, the man allegedly seen in the video, was arrested for the arson that is estimated to have caused a loss of Rs 24 crore to textile traders who lost goods that had been packed and kept ready for delivery ahead of Navratri and Diwali.

According to police, Salve, who belongs to Dhule in Maharashtra, had worked as an accountant in a textile firm that had its offices on the sixth floor of the market, and he had targeted the traders to avenge his “harassment” at their hands, including the alleged non-payment of a part of his salary.

The Surat Crime Branch had picked up Salve on Monday (September 21) in the Dindoli area of Surat, a largely migrant ghetto, police said.

According to police, Salve had disclosed that he had taken up the job at the textile trading shop in Shyam Sangini market in April 2026 on a monthly salary of Rs 30,000. However, he was fed up with the behaviour of the senior accountant of the firm and its owner who would allegedly constantly “nag and scold” him and find fault with his work, Salve told police.

“Feeling humiliated, he left the job a month ago and asked for his pending salary of Rs 10,000. However, the senior accountant delayed the payment and made excuses, according to Salve. He would keep calling the office or show up periodically to ask for the money, but the owner would not pay. Fed up, Salve decided to take revenge,” sources in the police said.

In order to “teach a lesson” to his former employer, Salve allegedly hatched a plan to set fire to the parcels placed outside the shops during the night for delivery, police said. His intention was to “cause them losses”, they said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Karanraj Vaghela said that a day before the arson, Salve had allegedly bought petrol worth Rs 150 from a petrol pump in Dindoli.

“He went to Shyam Sangini textile market after all the shops had shut, and went up to the sixth floor. He sprinkled the petrol on the parcels of saris and dress materials placed in the passage, and lit the fire,” Vaghela said.

According to police, after fleeing from the spot on his bike, Salve went to Rajasthan, and then to Ayodhya. He returned to Surat on Sunday night. “Our teams were tipped off about his return, and we apprehended him from Dindoli,” ACP Vaghela said.

According to the time stamps on the CCTV footage, Salve was inside the market for just four minutes. Police had registered an FIR booking an unknown person for arson before Salve was identified and tracked.

The Surat Fire Department had got a call around 12.50 am on the night of the fire, and sent teams who fought the blaze for around 14 hours. All the shops on the floor were gutted while some on the fifth floor of the six-storey building were also affected.

Kamal Saiyed is a senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, providing extensive, on-the-ground coverage from Surat and the broader South Gujarat region and the Union territories of Daman, Diu & Dadra Nagar Haveli. With a reporting career at the publication spanning back to 2007, he has established himself as a high-authority voice on the industrial, social, and political pulse of one of India’s fastest-growing urban hubs. Expertise Industrial & Economic Beat: Based in the "Diamond City," Saiyed offers expert reporting on the diamond and textile industries. His work tracks global market shifts (such as De Beers production changes), local trade policies, and the socio-economic challenges facing the millions of workers in Surat’s manufacturing hubs. Civic & Infrastructure Coverage: He consistently reports on urban development and public safety in Surat, including: Traffic & Urban Planning: Monitoring the city's 13-fold increase in traffic violations and the implementation of new municipal drives. Public Safety: Investigative reporting on infrastructure failures, fire safety NOC compliance in schools and commercial buildings, and Metro rail progress. Political Reporting: Tracking the shifting dynamics between the BJP, Congress, and AAP in South Gujarat and the neighboring Union Territories (Daman, Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli). Crime beat: Armed with a good source network Saiyed has been able to bring out the human side of crime stories in his region ... Read More