Manager held for setting Mylapore building on fire

Though police initially thought the blaze was set by an accident, CCTV footage retrieved from DVR unit in the building revealed that it was A Mani Kumar (42) — a resident of Mandaveli who also runs a footwear showroom on the first floor — set the place on fire after pouring alcohol all around.

After investigation, the police said that Kumar has been running his business on the ground floor for about 20 years. But, he had been upset ever since the landlord Ravishankar asked him to shift his shop to the first floor to make way for a handloom shop.

Since the move affected his revenue, on Saturday, a drunk Kumar went to the ground floor shop, poured liquor there and set it on fire. He apparently thought that the fire would be limited only to that floor, said the police, but the blaze gutted the entire building, including his footwear showroom. Armed with the CCTV footage, the police arrested Kumar based on a complaint by the handloom shopkeeper Arban Singh and remanded him in judicial custody on Tuesday.