Cops probe how fire spread from 3rd to 10th floor of S 24 Pgns district HQ

Kolkata: Kolkata Police has launched a criminal probe after detecting “inconsistencies” in how a fire tore through the New Administrative Building at Alipore on Wednesday. Senior fire department officials called the second phase of the fire “unusual”, triggering an on-spot inspection by minister of state (department of fire and emergency) Kaushik Chowdhury on Thursday.

The blaze, which originated on the lower floors of the 10-storey South 24 Parganas District Council (Zilla Parishad) building, mysteriously leaped to the top floors long after the primary fire was contained and the power supply was completely disconnected.

This has led to concerns that EVMs stored on the 10th floor might have suffered some damage. A senior Election Commission official said: “EVMs have been stored in the building. The fire may have caused some damage. We will have to inspect each EVM to assess the impact. The police are investigating the incident, and the district magistrate will submit a report to us.”

The fire was initially spotted on the third floor, where the building’s NIC conference room, and offices of Trinamool leaders and district functionaries, Jahangir Khan (now in custody) and Bahirul Islam, are located. The conference room was closed at the time. Fire officials later reported that the blaze was brought under control by 11.40–11.50 am.

However, investigators are baffled how the flames rekindled on the 9th and 10th floors around 12.30 pm, when flames were seen again — this time on the ninth and tenth floors.

Fire department sources said they were mystified how the fire spread from the fourth floor to the ninth and 10th floors without causing much damage to the sixth, seventh, and eighth floors.

The ninth floor houses the mid-day meal section and the 10th floor contains the Alipore Sadar strong room. This maximum-security zone stores Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) utilized across several high-profile assembly constituencies, including Kasba, Jadavpur, Behala East, Behala West, Metiabruz, and Tollygunge.

A criminal case has been registered at the Alipore Police Station under Sections 326(g) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), read with Section 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.