Shillong, Feb 24: One of the oldest and historical legal centres of Meghalaya- the Shillong Bar Association office, where famous legal eagles of the state and north east presented their cases in the Shillong court for well over a century, has been gutted in a devastating fire that broke out on Saturday night.
A fire that broke out shortly after 10:15 PM quickly spread across the age old wooden structure engulfing the entire office in flames.
Thousands of case files, including many dating back to the early part of the 1900s, were destroyed in the fire that razed the office.
The Shillong Bar Association building was constructed in the year 1913 and is one of the oldest legal offices in the country.
On being alerted about the inferno, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma rushed to the site of the fire to see the rescue efforts.
He was left shocked by the scale of the destruction and assured all possible help to the lawyers fraternity of the state.
The chief minister also said it was a heavy heart to see the scale of destruction to the office of an established pillar of democracy since his late father P A Sangma was also a former lawyer of the state.
