Deputy CM Shivakumar announces separate probe in BBMP office fire incident that injured 9

The Congress government in Karnataka has ordered a three-pronged probe into a fire that broke out in the Quality Control Division of the Bengaluru civic agency on Friday. Nine people sustained serious burn injuries as a result of the incident.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, who went to Victoria Hospital to enquire about the injury of the staff of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, said that an internal investigation would be conducted by the BBMP alongside investigations by police and the electrical inspectorate.

Tushar Giri Nath, chief commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that the incident took place between 5 pm and 5.30 pm. "I was in the office, there was a power failure. Then I learnt that a fire broke out in a building behind our office. When I went there, I saw a massive fire raging from the building. The incident caused major loss. Those working around there were injured. They were rushed to hospital," he said, as per news agency PTI.

Siddaramaiah earlier said that he has ordered an inquiry into the incident and an FIR has been registered.

The injured were rushed to Saint Martha's Hospital in the vicinity for first aid and were subsequently shifted to the burns ward of the Victoria Government Hospital.

The incident occurred days after the Congress-led state government ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities that took place in the BBMP during the previous the BJP government.

Apart from the judicial probe, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, formed four panels headed by IAS officers to investigate the alleged irregularities in the civic agency.

(With PTI inputs)