Coimbatore: Fifteen sovereigns of gold ornaments, Rs 19 lakh in cash and several property documents were gutted in a fire that broke out in a house at Kunnathurampalayam near Annur on Tuesday.
House owner R Mohankrishna, who runs a hardware shop, had locked the house before leaving for his shop adjacent to the house. He noticed smoke around 2.45pm and rushed to the house. But he was not able to enter the house, which was engulfed in flames.
A team from the Annur fire station put out the fire after an hour of struggle.
Mohankrishna said that he had kept Rs 19 lakh under his bed. “The currency notes were charred. Documents of three motorcycles, two cars, a pick-up van and a truck were destroyed, so were seven property documents. I was planning to open another shop opposite to the house on Wednesday,” he said.
The fire could have been caused by a short circuit, firemen said.
The Annur police have registered a case.