Mahendranagar, November 7:

Twenty-four shops were gutted as fire broke out at Bramhadev bazaar of Mahendranagar municipality last night.

According to the locals, the fire started at midnight from a shop belonging to Narayan Chand and continued till this morning completely destroying 24 shops.

According to a preliminary estimation, property worth Rs 13.2 million was damaged in the fire, Mahendranagar-based FNCCI, said.

“Telephone service was not available due to the bazaar bandh and we could not call the fire engines on time resulting in so much damage,” said Dipak chand, a local whose house was destroyed in the inferno. An electric short-circuit may have caused the fire, locals said.