Fire in study room of church complex in Kerala's Kozhikode

Kozhikode(Kerala), Mar 7 (PTI) A fire broke out in a building within the St Patricks Church complex here on Saturday morning, burning a car and causing damages worth around Rs 8 lakh, police said.

The incident occurred around the small hours and according to CCTV footage, an unidentified man set fire to the building which was being used as a study room by the church, they said.

A car parked nearby, belonging to a priest of the church, was completely gutted in the fire and a lot of reading material in the study room were destroyed in the blaze, it said.

An officer of Chemmangad police station said that the man seen in the CCTV footage was exhibiting actions of someone who was mentally ill, but he has not been identified till now.

The officer said that a case under sections 332(house trespass), 324(mischief) and 326 (mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered and search is on for the suspect.

After the incident, current metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calicut, Varghese Chakkalaka, visited the site and said there should be a proper police probe into the incident. PTI HMP ROH