Warehouse fire destroys Rs 28-cr groundnuts, probe underway

Groundnut stock worth Rs 28 crore was gutted in a fire at a warehouse in Gondal town, Rajkot, on January 30, officials said on Friday.

Rajkot district collector Vikrant Pandey said that nearly 1.35 lakh sacks, each containing 35 kg groundnut, are feared to have been destroyed in the fire. An estimated 2 lakh sacks were stored in the warehouse. When reports came in last, fire fighters were still trying extinguish the flames.

Deputy inspector general of CID (crime) Dipankar Trivedi said they have formed a seven-member team to investigate the incident. He said that experts were finding it difficult to collect samples to ascertain the cause of the fire as it was still raging.

"We are not ruling out any possibility and will conduct a thorough probe to find out whether it was an accident or a conspiracy," Trivedi said.

The warehouse was used to store groundnut procured from farmers in Saurashtra. The opposition Congress had alleged a conspiracy in the incident saying the warehouse was set to fire to destroy evidence of corruption in groundnut procurement.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani ordered a CID probe into the incident.

4 FIRES IN A DAY

Four incidents of fire were reported from factories in Ahmedabad on a single day on Friday, three of which broke out due to short circuit. One of the fire broke out in a chemical factory. The fires happened in Narol, Vatva GIDC, Ramol and Rakhial areas.

(With agency inputs)