An employee of the bank looks at the gutted office. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, March 6: A fire broke out at a multi-storeyed market complex at Badambadi at the heart of city today, gutting property worth around Rs 20 lakh. No causality or injury has however been reported in the mishap.

According to reports, the fire broke at the vehicle finance section of the IndusInd Bank located on the third floor of the market complex around 7am.

“All the interior decorations, furniture, computers and vital documents have been reduced to ashes in the fire. It is estimated that property of around Rs 20 lakh has been gutted in the mishap,” said Nagendra Kumar Nayak, chief manager of IndusInd Bank.

“We had locked the bank at 7:30pm yesterday. Today, we got a call from the security guard who informed us about the fire. We immediately rushed to the spot,” said Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo, marketing officer of the bank.

However, the fire has not affected 105 shops and 27 offices of various companies located in the same building.

“It was the security guard and some other people who saw smoke coming out of the windows. With the help of local youths, we broke the shutter locks of the bank in the presence of police officers,” said Sishir Rath, secretary of Bharatia Tower Shopowners’ Association.

According to Rath, two fire brigade units immediately arrived at the spot and doused the flames before it could spread to other adjacent shops and offices in the complex. There was no rush in the market complex as it was a Sunday. Otherwise, it would have triggered panic among all.

“It is suspected that the fire was caused due to short circuit. However, after few hours of operation, the fire was controlled,” said C.N. Routray, assistant fire officer.