 |
| Darjeeling Magistrate’s office |
A.K. Chaturvedi, the superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said: “We have sent a requisition for a forensic team to conduct an inquiry. The requisition was made last night.”
The Regional Forensic Science Laboratory is situated in Jalpaiguri.
The fire department has ruled out short circuit as the cause of the blaze. The fire officials doubt that some person who entered the record room during office hours yesterday might have thrown a cigarette butt in the room, triggering the blaze.
The fire that started at 8pm was doused in 15 minutes.
The record room houses old documents like land khatian (documents), maps and gazetteers.
Gopal Lama, additional district magistrate of Darjeeling, said: “The fire was doused within 15 minutes. I think around 30 record sheets were destroyed. However, data have not been lost as all documents were digitised almost six months back.”
The record sheets pertain to land documents dating back to the 1950s and 60s.
Sources said there are two layers of locks in the record room. “One of the locks is kept in the record office, while the other one is in the guard room,” said a source.
Lama said any individual could access the record room provided he had a written permission from the authorities concerned. However, it is not clear whether any person accessed the record room yesterday.
Source: Telegraph
