Key files burnt in Secretariat blaze

Hyderabad: Following a suspicious fire that erupted at C-Block in the Secretariat, around 80 files pertaining to officers belonging to All India Services including IAS, IPS, IRS and IFS, and a computer were severely damaged.

It is suspected that some CBI, ACB files relating to disciplinary action against officials from the division were gutted. The chamber belonged to section officer E. Murali Krishna Mohan of Section B.

The fire call was received at 8 pm and a fire tender from the Secretariat fire service was rushed to the Samatha Block to put off the fire.

Though the fire officials suspect that the fire had an electrical origin, police investigations are on to accurately determine the cause. “We rushed to the spot soon and brought the fire under control. There were some files related to the general administration department and a couple of files related to service matters,” a fire official said.

DCP Kamalasan Reddy said, “We are investigating the cause of the fire and all the damaged files will be checked. We will examine CCTV footage and study the fire department’s report. We will scrutinise the details of the files and investigate this matter seriously.”