Report confirms short circuit as cause of Satpura Bhawan fire incident

An inquiry committee in Madhya Pradesh has submitted a 287-page report to the state government regarding the Satpura Bhawan fire incident that occurred on June 12. The report concluded the fire broke out due to a short circuit. The massive fire had started on the third floor of the building and spread to the sixth floor. The official estimated the loss to be Rs 24 crores. The report states that there was no suspicious role played by any individual in causing the fire intentionally or as mischief. An investigation was launched on the orders of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The committee’s findings were submitted to the state government. The report contains the data from three site inspections, 32 statements, State Level Forensic Science Lab’s investigation report, Chief Electricity Inspector’s technical report, and the PWD’s two sub-committees’ assessment of damage report. After the incident, the Chief Minister had spoken with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and had also sought help from the Air Force and other Central Government departments. District Collector Ashish Singh mentioned that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Army came together to control the fire.