Suhail Dar
In the Mattan area of Anantnag district, south Kashmir, a mysterious fire damaged four residential structures and a granary belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community.
Official said that the incident occurred late Sunday night, around 2:30 a.m., affecting multi-floor heritage houses in Razdan Mohalla.
The burnt properties belong to Anand Ji Razdan, Shadi Lal Razdan, and Sham Lal Patwari.
The families, whose homes were unoccupied, have called for a high-level investigation, citing that natural causes like short circuits are unlikely.
DIG South Kashmir, Javed Iqbal, confirmed that a case has been registered at the Mattan police station and that a senior officer is leading the investigation.
He said that efforts are underway to determine the fire’s cause with the help of forensic science laboratories (FSL) and CCTV footage.
The DIG assured that a thorough and prompt investigation is being conducted to uncover the truth and proceed with necessary actions.
There have been increased cases of fire incidents of fire in the Kashmir valley. In the last few months, religious institutes, mosques, Khanqahs have been damaged during fire incidents.