The courts were shifted to the Mini Secretariat area around four years ago. The record room had been locked up ever since and did not even have a power connection. Sources said most of the records had already been shifted to the Mini Secretariat when the staff had shifted to the new building.

Division Number 8 SHO Ravinder Singh said the cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained. Members of the fire brigade team said there was wood lying both inside and outside the record room — the reason why the fire spread rapidly. The roof of the room was completely destroyed.

Said Additional District Fire Officer Kartar Singh, “We could not determine the exact reason of the fire. There is no electricity wire near the room as well. So we have intimated the police”. He said the team could not make out whether there were any records in the room because of the thick smoke and flames.