Four persons were detained for their role in the alleged conspiracy to burn the heritage Writers’ Buildings here.
“Prima facie it is suspected to be a conspiracy. Four persons, mainly government employees, have been detained and they are being interrogated,” Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee told reporters.
He said that fingerprint experts were also being requisitioned as part of the investigation and forensic experts have visited the site.
An alert police constable on Friday raised an alarm after he smelt and detected kerosene spilled on files and books in a top floor office of the home department at the state secretariat.
“We suspect that someone or a group of people were trying to set fire to the building,” Mr. Banerjee said on Friday, adding that an enquiry would be made to nab the culprits.
Lax security
The over-200-year-old heritage building is being renovated and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and key departments now function from a makeshift secretariat which was named Nabanna across the Hooghly river. Friday’s incident is believed to be the outcome of lax security at the building since most of the Ministers and their retinues moved out in October.
