Fire guts grocery store in Gondpipri, losses put at Rs 9-10 lakh
An unidentified person is suspected of breaking the shutter lock and setting fire to a grocery store in Chandrapur district's Furdiheti village
A grocery store caught fire in Furdiheti village in Gondpipri taluka of Chandrapur district. An unidentified person is suspected to have broken the shutter lock and set the shop on fire. The blaze destroyed the grocery stock, furniture, a TV and a cooler in the shop, along with cash and important documents.
Furdiheti resident Sangharaj Keshav Telse, 50, lives in the village with his family and runs the grocery store as a side business alongside farming. He had gone to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar with his family on September 18, 2026, for his nephew's saakshagandh ceremony. While he was away, his 50 year old mother, Jijabai Keshav Telse, was looking after the shop at home.
Around 10:30 to 11 pm on September 20, 2026, Jijabai stepped out of the house for some work and saw smoke coming from the shop's shutter. She raised an alarm as soon as she saw the smoke, and neighbours and relatives rushed to the spot. When they went to check the shop, they found the lock on the right side shutter broken and the shutter partly open. Realising a fierce fire had broken out inside the shop, those present immediately called the fire brigade in Gondpipri. The fire brigade reached the spot and brought the blaze under control, but by then everything in the shop had been burnt.
On learning of the incident, shop owner Sangharaj Telse returned to the village on the night of September 21 and inspected the shop himself. Grocery stock worth about Rs 7 to 8 lakh was burnt in the fire. Besides this, furniture, a TV and a cooler worth Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh were destroyed. Cash of Rs 30,000 to 50,000 in the shop, along with the shop's account ledger and licence, important documents, were also burnt and destroyed. The total loss in the incident is said to be in the range of Rs 9 to 10 lakh.
It is suspected that an unidentified person broke the lock on the shop's shutter and set it on fire, either with intent to steal or out of enmity. On a verbal complaint from Sangharaj Telse, Gondpipri police have registered a case against an unidentified accused under sections 324(5), 326(f) and 332(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. The case is being further investigated under the guidance of Police Inspector Ramesh Hattigote.
