A fireman tries to douse the flames at Vishal Mega Mart in Muzaffarpur on Monday. Five fire tenders took 14 hours to douse the fire that broke out on Sunday night. Goods worth Rs 10 crore stored in the three-storeyed mart at Imlichatti under Barhampura police station were gutted in the fire. “By the time the firefighters managed to bring the flames under control on Monday afternoon, dress material, plastic, food and stationery items, fibre utensils and cosmetics were reduced to ashes,” said KN Jha, the store manager. “The exact reason behind the blaze could not be ascertained but it appeared that the fire broke out from a short circuit. A few employees suffered minor burn injuries,” added Jha. “The manager lodged an FIR with Barhampura police station on Monday evening, claiming a loss of assets worth Rs 10 crore. Police visited the site and asked mart officials to restrict the entry of customers. Investigations are on,” said Shashi Kumar, the station house officer of Barhampura police station. Text by Khwaja Jamal, picture by Lokesh Bihari