THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Goods stocked up for sale during Onam and estimated to be worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in a massive fire that broke out at a furniture shop’s godown at Kurunganoor in Pattom on Sunday morning, even as the owner alleged conspiracy behind the incident. There were no casualties.
The fire broke out at Joy Furnishing Company around 10am. While the shop was closed as it was Sunday, two workers were inside the godown, where the furniture made of cane and sponges had been stocked in large volumes for sale during Onam, at the time. They managed to escape unhurt.
Following an alert, five fire engines from Chenkalchoola, Chakai and Kazhakoottam fire stations reached the spot and managed to douse the flames after nearly six hours.
While police and fire force officials said they were yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire, shop owner Joy Abraham alleged a conspiracy behind the entire incident.
Claiming that the fire spread from the back of the godown, Joy said, “This is the fourth fire breakout in businesses run by my family members. On Friday, I had even met Chief Minister V D Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala at the Secretariat and urged them to speed up the probe in the previous cases. I suspect some people, which I have said in my letters to the authorities. I have informed the police officials of my suspicions as well,” said Joy.
He said he suffered a loss of nearly Rs 40 lakh as both the furniture and the building was damaged.
“Had this happened at night, the damage would have been much worse,” he said. The Museum Police has filed an FIR and is looking into the previous cases.