According to preliminary reports, electrical short-circuit would be one of the causes for the fire
Hyderabad: A devastating fire broke out at the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) building in the Red Hills area here on Saturday, for the first time in 52 years since its establishment in 1974, and in its wake, left the destroyed what is said to be crucial evidence related to a large number of cases.
The incident triggered allegations from political parties that evidence relating to crucial cases had been destroyed. The fire was reported at 10.08 and was doused by 1.30 pm, officials said. There were no casualties. Five fire tenders and a firefighting robot were pressed into service to douse the fire. The blaze was restricted to a part of the first floor, and some computer systems were damaged in the incident. Based on preliminary investigation, a fire department official said they suspected an electrical short-circuit caused the fire.
DGP B Shivadhar Reddy, late in the evening, said every file at the FSL had a data back-up. “Accusations are natural,” he said, referring to allegations of damage to key pieces of evidence. “This is just a fire accident....that's it... there is no truth in key files being burn. Don't believe rumours.”
In a release, FSL Director Shikha Goel said the fire had resulted in some damage to the computer forensics lab, the training hall and certain other facilities located on the first floor of the building.
“The damage caused by this incident is being assessed. However, most of case property and TGFSL material is intact,” Goel said.
Prima facie it appears that the fire started in the electrical switch board of the room, the official said. The police have commenced an investigation.
The fire was first noticed by an employee who saw smoke coming from one of the rooms located on the first floor. He alerted others in the building and an inspector of police working at TGFSL. He also used the fire extinguisher available in the room itself to douse the fire.
Actual extent of damage would be known only after the smoke is completely cleared and a technical inspection of the servers is carried out, police said.
