Fire guts at least 12 shops in Malbazar market

Fire broke out in a market in front of Malbazar SDO office late Saturday night. At least 12 shops were gutted there. Five fire tenders rushed to the spot, but could not prevent the destruction of those shops. The shop keepers, who reached the spot on Saturday night, only saw their shops reduced to ashes in front of them. 

Some of the shopkeepers suspected foul play here. The locals joined hands with the fire brigade to extinguish the fire. “The property worth Rs 10 lakh was gutted. The traders there demanded compensation from the local administration,” said a police officer.

“We have demanded compensation from the administration. Most of us are the sole bread earners of our family. We’ll not able to run our family. How do we gather food for our children,” rued a trader.

“We have initiated a probe. We also suspect there might be any foul play. We have to inspect the footages of CCTV there,” said an investigating officer.

However, the fire brigade officers suspect that it was an electrical fire. The fire took place due to a short circuit. “Anybody can make such nuisances in the electrical connection to initiate the electrical fire. The theory of foul play originates from there,” an investigating officer pointed out.

The fire brigade came within 10 minutes. “The whole market was almost gutted when we reached there. The electrical fire spread faster than normal fire. We tried hard to control the flame. But nothing comes good as such,” said a fire brigade officer.

Meanwhile, top police brasses and officers from district administration visited the spot. They took notes from the spot. The fire brigade officer hinted a forensic probe in the incident. “We’ll 

report the matter to District Magistrate,” said an officer of district administration who visited the spot.