Stubble fire spreads to police post,38 seized vehicles go up in flames

As many as 24 four wheelers,including a Toyota Innova,a Maruti Zen car,a bus,a truck and a tractor,and 14 two wheelers were damaged in the fire.

“The fire,spread in an area of 25 to 30 acres,quickly reached the police post with the help of the strong winds. The effort to check its advance failed and soon the case property vehicles were in flames,” Buttar Police Post munshi Balwinder Singh said.

Even as farmers blamed the cause of the fire on a “short circuit”,police have registered a case under various sections of the IPC including 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house,etc).

“The FIR has been registered against Pargat Singh and Inderjit Singh,both residents of Dhardeo village. The origin of fire has been traced to their fields. Initially,there appears no fault of other farmers whose fields were also caught in the fire,” said Mehta SHO Avtar Singh.

Amritsar (Rural) Senior Superintendent of Police Manmohan Singh said some of the vehicles destroyed in the fire were related to cases as old as over five years. He said the destruction of vehicles was “not going to have much impact” in the trials of the cases.

“We have launched thorough investigations into the case. Role of every farmer in whose field fire was noticed would be probed. We are getting videography done. Farmers claim that the fire was triggered due to short circuit,but our investigations do not point towards short circuit angle,” the SSP added.