Mumbai: It took almost 12 hours for the Mumbai fire brigade to bring the fire at Scindia House, Ballard Pier, under control. While the firefighting operations were called off by 5 am, the cooling operations went on the whole of Saturday morning.

According to civic officials, combustible material including stacks of paper and files caused the fire to spread rapidly inside the building. Flames flared thrice during the course of firefighting operations. Firemen also faced difficulties due to low visibility and smoke-logged rooms. As Scindia House is an old building, it did not have firefighting equipment such as sprinklers or smoke detectors.

Chief fire officer P.S. Rahangdale said that the fire was brought under control by Saturday morning. “Smoke engulfed the entire area. So, we had to battle the fire from all four sides to bring it under control.” However, doubts have been raised over the fire, which broke out in the income tax office Friday evening. RTI activist Anil Galgali said, “The Scindia House has the income tax department’s office. Crucial files related to the Nirav Modi corruption case are said to have been destroyed in the fire. Was the fire started intentionally?”

Enquiries into several high-profile cases were being conducted at Scindia House, including the case in connection with banker Chanda Kochhar and the probe into the fraud perpetrated by diamond merchant Nirav Modi. Scindia House was the headquarters of one of the oldest shipping companies in India, the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd.