India, June 1 -- A fire ripped through a fish market in Odisha's Cuttack, gutting over 30 shops and damaging a bank branch in the same building. Fire services officials said the blaze, which broke out around 2am on Monday in the Press Chhak area of Cuttack, spread rapidly through the congested market area after a paint godown inside the decades-old building caught fire, allegedly due to a short circuit.

Traders claimed cash worth between Rs.50 lakh and Rs.60 lakh was destroyed in the fire. Several bundles of notes belonging to traders, and stored for payments and business operations, were completely charred.

The fire first engulfed the fish market on the ground floor and spread to the upper floors, including a Bank of India branch, rais...