Two killed in blaze at godown in Bengal's Malda

Two persons were charred to death in a blaze that gutted several shops in West Bengal's Malda district on Tuesday, a senior police officer said.

District SP Pradiip Kumar Yadav said that the fire broke out in a shop-cum-godown at Netaji Commercial Market in Malda town when labourers were unloading containers containing carbide.

Carbide is widely used in catalysing early ripening of fruits, including mangoes, which are grown in large quantities in numerous orchards in Malda district.

The two persons who died were labourers engaged in unloading the containers in one of the shops at the market situated within the English Bazar police station precincts, he said.

Yadav said that about nine to ten shops dealing in groceries, jewellery, firecrackers, stationery goods and carbide besides a store room for spice were severely damaged in the fire. He said that a few persons have been detained and were being questioned in connection with the fire.

The SP said that the bodies of the two labourers - identified as Ganesh Karmakar (48) and Raju Rishi (48) - have been handed over to their respective family members after post-mortem examination.

''Requisition has been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata, for an expert team to visit the place of occurrence to know the actual cause of the fire,'' the SP said in a statement.

Stating that the blaze has been brought under control, Yadav said that Fire Brigade officials could not give a clear opinion regarding the probable cause of the fire.

The quantum of loss caused by the fire that gutted nine to ten shops would be investigated, he said.

The site has been cordoned off and is being guarded by a police contingent, he said.

At least 16 people have been killed in blazes occurring in places storing firecrackers in three districts of the state in the last eight days.

The Alipore court Tuesday remanded one Bicchu Mondal to eight days' police custody in connection with a blaze at a firecracker godown in a residential house at Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas district that caused the death of two women and a nine-year-old girl, all belonging to one family.

Police said that it has seized nearly 57,000 kg raw materials used in manufacturing firecrackers at Budge Budge and Maheshtala areas following the incident.

The women's cell of BJP on Tuesday submitted a deputation to the SP of Diamond Harbour police district, within which Budge Budge is situated, and demanded that the district is cleansed of such materials before the coming panchayat elections in the state.