A massive fire engulfed 20 shops in Kolkata in Howrah district on Friday, 31st March. No injuries were reported in the incident that took place in Registry Gali area adjacent to Bagnan central bus stand, as per officials who spoke to the media. This was barely a day after mobs attacked a Ram Navami procession in the same general area and there were cases of arson and vehicles were burnt and stoned.
The cause was suspected to be a short circuit. The fire tenders were on the job and got the situation under control, but not before massive damage to property. The process of ascertaining the number of losses is underway, the officials said, even as shopkeepers claimed that goods worth more than ? 1 crore were gutted.