Arsalan at the Park Circus seven-point crossing was evacuated during lunch hours on Tuesday after smoke started billowing from a chimney.

Two fire tenders reached the spot around 1.15pm. Firemen sprayed water into the chimney simultaneously from the opening on the terrace and from the base in the kitchen.

While the firemen were working, the 10-odd customers having lunch were asked to move out before the shutters were downed.

Once the firemen gave the clearance 20 minutes later, the shutters were up and within 15 minutes, the popular biryani and moghlai outlet was bustling with people in the both AC and non-AC sections.

"There was no real fire. One of our employees had poured oil on the oven by mistake as the tawa had slipped," said owner Akhtar Parwez. "Flames leapt high up inside the chimney. The smoke was a result of the oil burning for a couple of minutes."

A fire officer, too, said there was no real fire. "Only the aluminium chimney got damaged."

The Arsalan chain has emerged as a biryani hotspot, drawing thousands daily who savour their favourite delicacy sitting at the outlets or take it home. The Park Circus restaurant is the flagship among the eight outlets across town.

But the social media was abuzz with pictures of smoke swirling on the terrace, captioned "big fire at Arsalan Park Circus" and "road closed because of big fire at Park Circus".

Suman Basak, who had shared one such picture on Facebook and WhatsApp, said he felt it was his responsibility to warn people after a friend shared the picture with him. "How could I not believe in the picture, especially after the flyover collapse? But it is true that I did not check the veracity of the picture before sharing it."