On 1st June, several Congress and AAP leaders rushed to insinuate a conspiracy after reports emerged of a fire in Delhi. Some media reports initially suggested that a fire had broken out at the Ministry of Education office. Without confirming the reports, Congress and AAP leaders attempted to link it with the ongoing controversy over CBSE OSM. However, the Ministry of Education later clarified that the fire had not occurred at its office at all. The incident had taken place at the School of Planning and Architecture, near ITO in New Delhi.
Jairam Ramesh, Atishi and Supriya Shrinate fuelled insinuations
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was among the first to call the incident “fishy” and hint at its link to the ongoing controversy. In a post on X, he wrote, “The news of a fire in the Education Ministry’s offices is very concerning. It is also very fishy.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Delhi, Atishi Marlena, went a step further and wondered whether the tender documents of the CBSE OSM fiasco would “mysteriously get burnt”.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate also joined in and said on X, “Ministry of Education has been under fire. Now an actual fire seems to have broken out in the Ministry itself.”
Ministry says fire was at SPA, not its office
While media houses including ANI, Financial Express and others initially claimed that the fire broke out at the Ministry of Education office, the Ministry later clarified that the incident did not take place at its office.
Sources at the Ministry of Education quoted by ANI said that the incident took place at the School of Planning and Architecture.
#UPDATE | Ministry of Education says, "It is clarified that the Ministry of Education is located at Kartavya Bhavan-2, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi. Whereas the fire incident occurred at the premises of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), located at ITO, New…
— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2026
The Ministry stated that its office is located at Kartavya Bhavan 2, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi. The fire, on the other hand, occurred at the premises of the School of Planning and Architecture, located near ITO in New Delhi. The Ministry also said that the fire was minor in nature and was quickly brought under control. No loss of life or property was reported.
According to Delhi Fire Services, the incident took place at around 10 am on Monday. Firefighting operations were carried out by eight fire tenders. Three ambulances, two PCR vans, traffic police and local police staff also assisted in the operation.
DFS later said that the fire had been brought under control and extinguished.
Delhi Fire Services confirmed that no casualty or injury was reported in the incident. It added that the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
“The situation is presently under control, and no active fire remains in the building,” DFS said.
While the initial confusion was corrected by the authorities, the usual suspects had already used the incident to suggest something sinister. As it turned out, their conspiracy theory was built not on facts, but on a wrongly reported location.
