Hyderabad, May 20: Fire broke out in an art gallery and later spread to a bank at Banjara Hills on Thursday morning, damaging paintings and artefacts in the gallery.
The fire broke out at the Icon art gallery located in the cellar of a building on Banjara Hills road no. 12 around 9.30 a.m.
Noticing smoke from the gallery, locals alerted the fire control room who rushed one fire tender each from Film Nagar and Sanathnagar.
The flames soon spread to the SBI branch located on the ground floor, triggering panic among nearby residents.
With the gallery closed, fire fighters had to broke open window grills to take up fire-fighting.
Fire services personnel doused flames within an hour. According to police and firemen, artefacts, paintings and photo frames were gutted in the art gallery while furniture and some electrical equipment were damaged in the bank.
Police suspect that a shortcircuit in the art gallery might have led to the mishap.
–Agencies