A fire broke out at the Secretariat’s protocol department on Tuesday evening. The office was under the NIA scanner in the gold smuggling case. Several files, documents and some computers have been reportedly destroyed.
No casualties reported so far. Fire engines rushed to the spot and put out the fire. Even though employees claim it was due to short circuit from the computer led to fire break out, the actual cause of fire is yet to be known.
The opposition alleges a foul play in the incident as the protocol department was under the scanner of NIA in the high profile gold smuggling scam.
The opposition alleged that the move was intended to destroy evidence to save the accused in the gold smuggling case. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that the evidence was destroyed with the connivance of the Chief Minister.
BJP State President K Surendran slammed the government over the incident and said that it was a deliberate attempt to sabotage evidence and documents pertaining to the high-profile gold smuggling case in Thiruvananthapuram. The police have arrested K Surendran after he staged a protest in front the secretariat.
