A fire broke out at Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in the capital on Tuesday afternoon, burning important documents of different cases.

On information, firefighters rushed to the spot and brought the flames under control at about 2:15pm.

When the fire erupted in the record room of the court at 1:27pm, lawyers, accused persons and their relatives ran to safe places.

The accused, who were produced before the court, were evacuated to the road in front of the court building.

Lt Col Rezaul Karim, director (training, planning and development) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD),

told reporters that the fire broke out at the record room on the underground floor of the court building at about 1:15pm.

Being informed, a unit of fire brigade reached the spot at 1:27pm and later five other units joined the efforts to fight the flames.

When contacted, Anisur Rahman, deputy commissioner (prosecution) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Daily Sun that there were documents of Dhaka district police at the record room.

The work was going to assess what kinds of documents had been burned in the fire, he said.

He further said they suspect that the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit.

When contacted, Md Asaduzzaman, superintendent of police in Dhaka district, told the Daily Sun that some of their case-related documents have burned in the fire.

They were working to assess how many documents were burnt, he said, adding that they will form a committee to find the cause behind the fire and the extent of damage.