Panic erupted in the Mendhar town on the intervening nights of Friday and Saturday when two shops and as many cars were damaged in a mysterious fire.
Locals claimed that at about 3 am, fire flames erupted out of two shops located in the main market of Mendhar town.
“Two cars parked near the shops were also damaged after they caught the fire mysteriously,” they said.
Soon after the news of fire spread in the town, locals rushed to the spot and called the fire tenders to contain the fire flames.
As per police, shops of Shubham Gupta and Amit Kumar Tandon and cars owned by Zubair Ahmed and Aais Mirza, got damaged in the mysterious fire.
Police have registered a case vide FIR number 29/2019 under section 435 of RPC at police station Mendhar and taken up further investigation.
Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, protests broke out in the town against the district administration and local police for poor security arrangements and their alleged failure in identification of miscreants who set on fire the shops and vehicles.
Some businessmen also kept their shops closed as a mark of protest against the alleged failure of authorities to identify the people responsible for the damage of public property. A meeting of civil society members of Mendhar town was also held under the chairmanship of sub-divisional administration wherein all the participants raised serious concern over the fire incident and termed it as a major security lapse. The meeting demanded that the accused involved in the fire incident should be immediately brought to book.