BENGALURU: A 25-year-old man suffocated to death while four others escaped with injuries when a fire broke out in a furniture manufacturing factory in DJ Halli at 3.30am on Saturday. The workers were asleep when the fire broke out. DJ Halli police arrested factory owner Mansoor Khan and a case of negligence has been booked against him.
The deceased is Mullar, a native of Uttar Pradesh, and the injured are Gulmar, Nazeer, Muneer and Muzbair. Police said Mullar ran into a toilet to save himself but suffocated to death. The rest of them were rescued by the neighbours.
A senior police officer said a fire broke out in the godown of the three-storeyed building. Electric short circuit is suspected to be the cause of the fire, which was doused only after three hours. The factory employed 10 workers, all from North India, and five of them were on leave when the incident took place. No safety measures were in place.