Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh): Two days after a paint godown in Chhatarpur caught massive fire, a CCTV footage has surfaced from the site on Tuesday. It showed the fire did not break out accidentally, instead it was a planned incident.
The warehouse owner and well-known paint businessman of the city, Suyash Surothiya, accused the operators of a nearby Gati Courier warehouse - Rajendra Sahu and Ramakant Sahu-- of deliberately setting the fire.
He even showed the proof in form of a CCTV footage, which showed a man burning garbage next to the godown's wall.
Surothiya alleged the accused then threw the burning garbage inside the godown.
FP Photo
According to Surothiya, the accused allegedly collected garbage in front of the shutter of his warehouse and set it on fire. The flames then spread inside the warehouse, reaching paint and other highly inflammable materials. Within a short time, the entire warehouse was engulfed in fire.
The incident took place on Nowgong Road, behind a Reliance petrol pump in Chhatarpur.
‘Loss of ₹1 crore caused’
Surothiya claimed that goods worth nearly ₹90 lakh to ₹1 crore were destroyed in the incident. Whatever little material remained was also completely damaged and is now unusable.
He said that his main shop near the bus stand, close to Doodhnath Temple, is insured. However, the warehouse on Nowgong Road and other warehouses owned by him do not have insurance. As a result, he will have to bear the entire loss himself.
The warehouse was storing paint and related material from several leading companies, including Asian Paints, Berger, JSW, Birla, JK, Creative and Nerolac. Around 4k bags of putty were also kept in the warehouse.
Surothiya is among the major super stockists in Chhatarpur. He is an EGCR dealer of Asian Paints, with monthly sales ranging between ₹2 crore and ₹3 crore.
He also stated that two 2-ton Daikin air conditioners worth around ₹1.25 lakh, were stored in packed condition in the warehouse and were destroyed in the fire.
Apart from goods, important documents related to stock movement, financial transactions and company records kept in the warehouse cupboard were also burnt to ashes. The loss of records involving lakhs of rupees has further added to the trouble.
At present, a demand has been raised for a thorough investigation into the incident, and several questions are being raised about the cause of the fire.
