No connection found between fire incident and land issue: Police

Police have said that investigations so far have not shown any connections between Thursday's fire incident at government ministries and the issue of land being wrongly awarded to persons not on the Binveriya housing scheme recipients list.

Thursday's fire originated at the Housing Ministry at around 06:30 hrs, affecting the Construction Ministry housed in the same building, and rapidly spreading to the adjacent building housing the Environment Ministry. The fire raged for four hours before authorities managed to control it, by which time the buildings had been damaged beyond use.

Some social media users are alleging that the fire had been deliberately started in order to destroy evidence which would show land plots had been unfairly granted to persons not on the recipients list.

In a press conference last night, Police dismissed these rumours, with Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Shareef stating that so far, no connection has been found between the fire incident and the land issue.

"And in our efforts to find relevant documents, there has been no indication so far that the documents may not be available," he said, when asked if the fire had damaged any related documents.

Shareef said that so far they have been able to get all necessary documents, adding that there are no signs that Housing Development Corporation had in any way attempted to destroy the evidence.

He said that as of now, it has been noticed that there are issues surrounding three land plots in Hulhumale'.

He said that in this forgery case, the investigation would be expanded as fit based on the evidence gathered, with more persons to be questioned, and the Police to look into allocation of further land plots and flats.

In addition to Police, Anti Corruption Commission is also conducting an investigation into the matter.