Suspicions increase over cause of blaze

Two days after the major fire that claimed seven lives, left several injured and destroyed 92 shops and the lives of thousands of people, who depend on these establishments, the raging controversy whether the mishap was engineered has gained momentum.

According to eyewitnesses there was a huge explosion, which had a racking effect in a 2km radius, and this was the prime reason to suspect whether the first blast had caused the chain reaction in the fire cracker shop or not.

State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said in his Press conference at Thiruvananthapuram after the blast, that the Government was conducting an investigation by closing all the loopholes, and this statement from the Home Minister was considered by many that there was something which had caused the blasts.

Kozhikode is in the news for the past several months after a fishing boat was damaged in a fire when it was anchored in Beypore port. The police and Intelligence authorities had reported that the boat was burnt as a result of fundamentalist designs.There were anonymous calls that bombs were placed in and around the city and the detection of bombs from the heart of the city near the Moffusil bus stand has resulted in a major scare.

Another major issue which rocked Kozhikode recently was the arrest of a Pakistan-based fundamentalist Fahad, from Mysore . The police on interrogation had found that Fahad’s father was from Kozhikode and that he had visited and stayed in the city for several months and had even procured a passport under a false name. He was brought to the Kozhikode court for trial and all these incidents were the prime reasons to believe that Kozhikode is not safe.

The presence of a thick concrete block near the site of the incident was also another reason for the suspicions. Experts from the explosive squad has also noted and said that the firecrackers may not be the only reasons behind the explosions and this has also increased the suspicions of the investigating officers and the common man alike .

The Home Minister has also announced that the crime detection squad would investigate into the reasons behind the explosion and the fire and added that the Government was open to all the investigations.

An investigating officer while speaking to The Pioneer said “The explosions from the firecrackers will not and cannot cause such an explosion which tear apart the strong concrete beams”. In the explosion several concrete beams and pillars were strewn out at long distances and eyewitnesses had claimed that the thick concrete pillars were lifted at huge heights during the explosion which is next to impossible according to the explosive experts. Also coconut trees which are situated at a distance were worst-hit with some trees bent into three pieces and even the top of the trees reported damage due to the fire and the explosion. Experts claims that an explosion from a cracker unit would not be sufficient to damages like lifting a huge concrete block to heights as also burning the top of a coconut tree .

Central Intelligence agencies have also reported that there may be some clandestine operations behind this.