Around 1,000 documents and furniture were gutted in a fire at Begumganj upazila land office in the district early yesterday.

Being informed by the musallies who came out of the nearby mosque after saying Fazr prayer at around 5:30am, a fire fighting unit rushed to the spot and doused the blaze.

The fire might have originated from an electric short circuit, said Sahadat Hossain, inspector of Begumganj Fire Station.

Contacted, Assistant Commissioner (land) Khondakar Rezaul Karim said “Visiting the spot in the morning I saw a windowpane of my office broken and a bottle of kerosene there.” 

Noakhali Deputy Commissioner Badre Munir Ferdous and Superintendent of Police Ilias Sharif visited the spot.