A fire broke out at a shop selling plastic sheets, rakhis and sanitisers on the ground floor of a multi-storey building in Burrabazar’s Bonfield Lane on Monday evening.

Till last reports came in, 15 fire tenders were trying to douse the flames, which had spread to the first and second floors of the building. Police said no one was injured as all the shops in the area were closed.

Firhad Hakim, the chairman of the board of administrators of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, and fire and emergency services minister Sujit Bose reached the spot.

The area where the building is located is dotted with godowns stacked with chemicals and other inflammable items.

Eyewitnesses said they spotted thick black fumes coming out of the ground floor of the building around 8pm and immediately alerted the fire services department. Six fire tenders reached the spot, followed by four others.

Later, five more tenders were sent.

“Some gas cylinders are known to have been stocked in shops on the floors above,” Hakim said.

Autopsy

Punjab and Haryana High Court granted permission to carry out a second post-mortem on gangster Jaipal Bhullar’s body in Punjab on Monday.

Jaipal was killed in a police raid on a New Town flat on June 9.

His father Bhupinder Singh Bhullar had demanded a second post-mortem.