The fire accident that took place at the sub-collector office, Madanapalle in Chittoor district, last month has kicked up a lot of controversy. The exact reason for the outbreak of fire has not been established for a quite long time.
Initially, it was believed that the fire mishap was due to short circuit, but the electricity department has ruled it out after examining the electric cables and transformers etc.
Later, it was suspected that the fire might have broken out due to deliberate burning of the office with petrol or diesel.
However, further investigations by the forensic experts revealed that no petrol or diesel was used for the burning of the office. This led to the confusion as to what could be the reason for the burning incident.
Against this backdrop, the interrogation of suspended senior assistant Gautam Tej alias Gautam revealed an interesting aspect.
In his statement to the police during he interrogation, Gautam revealed that he had stored seven litres of engine oil in the almirah in his section.
He reportedly told the authorities that he had stored the engine oil in the office so that he could use the same in his car at a later date. It might have caught fire leading to the accident, he confessed.
The authorities are now questioning why Gautam had bought the engine oil to the office, if he wanted to use it in his car. First of all, change of engine oil would be done by the car mechanic not Gautam.
Secondly, it really wanted to change the oil in the car, he should have kept in the car dickey or at some other place, but not in the office almirah. But Gautam said he had done for the sake of “safety,” which baffled the investigating officers.
Now, they are suspecting that Gautam might have deliberately kept the oil in the almirah.
“If it is petrol or diesel, it can be easily found out during the investigation. But if it is engine oil, nobody can find out the reason for the fire,” sources said.
