A joint secretary-level officer in the state’s agricultural marketing department was injured after falling from the fifth floor of Khadya Bhavan on Mirza Ghalib Street in the New Market area on Monday morning.

The 51-year-old man was admitted to SSKM Hospital with critical injuries.

Police said he toppled over a staircase railing and landed on a pile of discarded furniture stacked at the bottom.

It was not clear whether the fall was accidental or intentional, investigators said.

“CCTV footage shows him going from the fifth floor to the sixth floor. The spot from which he fell is not covered by any CCTV camera,” an officer of New Market police station said.

The official arrived at his office on the fifth floor at around 10.25am. CCTV footage later showed him going upstairs before the fall, an officer said.

“It is clear that there was no one with him at that moment. We have learnt that he was in the habit of leaving his phone and bag in his office whenever he stepped out of his workstation, as he did on Monday,” the officer added.

Doctors at SSKM Hospital said his condition was critical.

A team of officers from New Market police station and the homicide wing of the detective department visited the spot.