THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The proprietors of the handicrafts stall which was gutted down in the fire mishap on Sunday evening have raised suspicion of a sabotage behind the sudden fire breakout. The president of District Farm Tools Cooperative Society, V Unnikrishnan Nair, has said that he suspected the hands of a former senior bureaucrat behind the unexpected fire that broke out in the makeshift shed of the society which had been lying shut during the last month for maintenance works. The loss in Sunday’s fire has been estimated at ` 5 lakh. Unnikrishnan told City Express that the former bureaucrat had been trying to evict the society, which has been functioning for the past 12 years on the 64 cents of land located near Theerthapadha Mandapam. He alleged that the bureaucrat, who has strong connections in the government, had in the past too played dirty tricks to evict the society from the land. ‘’The society had leased the land from Vidhyadhiraja Sabha years ago. But, later, it was found that the Sabha had been betraying both the society and the government as the land was, in fact, encroached,’’ said Unnikrishnan. The fact came out when the village officer served notices on both parties to vacate the land. But, instead, the Sabha, led by the above said bureaucrat, ventured into a legal battle against the society. But the litigations never yielded success as the State Government, which was also a party in the case, kept away from the litigation for some reasons, Unnikrishnan said, adding that the bureaucrat had struck again after the UDF Government came into power. Unnikrishnan also said that he has mentioned his suspicion in the statement given to the police in connection with the mishap. However, the police officer probing into the case dismissed Unnikrishnan’s claim that he had given a statement against the bureaucrat in question. The officer also said that though they are also probing into the chances of a sabotage, they have not found any evidence in this regard. Forensic and electric experts visited the place on Monday and collected evidence. The cause of the fire could only be found out only after detailed examination of the evidence collected. Preliminary data suggested that one of the gas cylinders kept in the building to power a generator had leaked causing the fire. The officer confirmed that according to the statement given by the District Farm Tools Cooperative Society, the loss incurred was estimated to be around ` 5 lakh.
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