Darjeeling, May 29: Darjeeling
police have made a requisition for forensic experts to inquire into the
fire in the records room of the district magistrate’s office(Fire in Darjeeling district magistrate (DM) office) here last
night.
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.(TT)