10 December,2015 09:01 AM IST | | Sadaguru Pandit
The fire department is still investigating the cause of the inferno; fire officers say the cylinders merely spread it
While on Tuesday post a detailed investigation, Samta Nagar police officials zeroed in on the spot where the fire had started in Damu Nagar, the fire department is preparing a report about the exact cause. Numerous eyewitnesses have been questioned till now.
The only piece of information of some significance that came up in the investigation, is the presence of an oven in the shanty of Mangala Gavli, where the fire probably started and which could have played a major role in the breakout. Fire officers say LPG cylinders did not cause it.
mid-day had reported on the accounts of an eye witness and the place where the fire started on Tuesday. While the Samta Nagar police officials have been carrying out the panchnama of the place since past two days, after a detailed investigation, they confirmed on Tuesday that the fire started in the house of Gavli who works as a house maid, and wasn't at home then.
The police officials, while talking to mid-day said that they have played their role of zeroing on the location where the fire started, and it is now the responsibility of the fire department to find how it started. "Our report about the place where the fire broke out is ready.
The fire officials were to come to discuss the report on Wednesday afternoon but since they are investigating the cause, the meeting will probably take place on Thursday," said a senior police official of Samta Nagar Police Station.
Investigation is in progress
A few fire officials said that the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, since there is no particular witness who can substantiate how it started. The officials confirmed that the LPG cylinders had no role in starting the fire and they only caused the fire to spread further.
However, the presence of microwave oven, in the house of Gavli, could be of some importance in the investigation process. "She was the only one with an oven at her place. While its connection to the cause of fire has not yet established, we are investigating further to know how the fire might have started.
It definitely didn't start due to the LPG cylinders," said a fire officer. Panchasheela Chakre, a resident whom mid-day spoke to on the first day of the fire, and who had given an account of how she saw clothes hanging outside Gavli's shanty on fire and called for help; was amongst other five to six residents questioned by fire department during the investigation. Today the fire department is supposed to complete the investigation and submit the report to higher officials.
