THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch will probe the fire outbreak on the third floor of the North Sandwich block of the Secretariat on Tuesday morning. The fire broke out at the office of Industries Minister P Rajeeve’s additional private secretary by 7.50 am.
It was doused by the Fire and Rescue Services team in 30 minutes. The fire outbreak came at a time when the state government is facing a barrage of corruption allegations regarding contracts awarded for installing artificial intelligence-enabled cameras.
Minister P Rajeeve said no files were gutted and the files pertaining to the AI cameras were not kept at the office. He added that the files were stored in electronic format.
A similar fire eruption had occurred in the protocol section of the general administration department during the gold smuggling probe. The incident generated a huge controversy with many alleging that it could be a case of sabotage meant to derail the investigation.
The Fire and Rescue Services sources said the smoke was first detected by its men stationed in the building. The fire erupted from the air-conditioner and damaged the curtains, ceiling and furniture. Initial assessment is that a short circuit could have resulted in the fire.