West Bengal fire minister Javed Khan today said he suspects sabotage in yesterday's fire in a shopping mall here.
"After preliminary investigation, it seems to me that it may be a case of sabotage. Fire brigade reached only after five minutes of being informed, then how could there was so much of damage," Khan told reporters here.
He said the shopping centre in New Market was in a heritage building having very high market valuation.
"We will investigate how the fire took place and will take action against the culprits if we find anyone guilty," Khan said.
He also raised questions on the presence of Army personnel on the spot after the fire incident.
"They were not invited by the state government then why did they come to a civilian area? Our men are sufficient in handling the situation. We will seek an explanation," Khan said.
Defence spokesman T K Singha said the Army team was present only to offer help if needed by the state administration.
"We had our own fire tender with water ready and so we went their to offer humanitarian support only. But they declined the offer and our team came back," he told PTI.
A major fire broke out at a shopping mall in the city's iconic New Market area yesterday. 27 fire tenders and sky-ladders were used to reach the upper floors of the shopping plaza, which was a cinema hall, 'Light House' in the past.
