Crime Branch to join fire probe

Officials have written a letter to fire brigade, electricity department asking them to send a report on the cause of the fire so they can start investigating WITH accusations of sabotage doing the rounds, the Mumbai Crime Branch is set to join the investigation of the cause of the Garib Nagar fire. The department will follow up on technical investigation carried out by the fire brigade and the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES).The crime branch has, however, said that it cannot begin its investigation until the cause of the fire is established by the two agencies. After that is done, it will investigate whether it was an accidental fire or the handiwork of some lobby.It may be recalled that Home Minister R R Patil had declared that the crime branch would investigate the matter shortly after the fire broke out.We have written a letter to the fire brigade and to the BSES to let us know the cause of the fire. Once they give us the details, we can start our investigation to find the culprits, if any, Deputy Commissioner of Police Satyanarayan Chowdhary told MiD DAY.It will not be possible to carry on a full-fledged investigation till we know the actual cause of the fire, he added.A senior fire official said foul play wasn't ruled out. A mere short circuit or gas leakage could have caused the fire, but we have not ruled out the possibility of arson.CatalystsOfficials said the presence of garment manufacturing units inside the slums and the construction of huts with wood were the reasons behind the fire spreading wildly out of control.One of the theories about the cause of the fire doing the rounds is that a fight between two drunken brothers resulted in a wire being dislodged, followed by short circuit.u00a0It could be a while before the actual cause of the fire is identified, the official added. 2,000The approximate number of shanties gutted in the fire