NEW DELHI : Six people, including four women, who were killed after a fire broke out at their house in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura area on Thursday evening, were unable to escape the blaze as their house doors, having electronic locks, had allegedly malfunctioned due to the fire.
The deceased, residing on two separate floors of the low-rise house, were identified as Rakesh Gupta (62), his wife Renu Gupta (62), Shweta (30), Kirti (25), Shanu Verma (27) and Santosh (25).
The fire had engulfed the first and second floors of the 4-storey building. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cause of the fire was probably a room heater on the first floor which was probably put on to dry the wet clothes.
Room heater left on
Official sources told The New Indian Express that an elderly woman on the first floor had switched on the room heater and left the house to buy medicines.
“Possibly some clothes caught fire which later spread to the whole duplex house. When the inmates on the third and fourth floor opened their windows to escape, the smoke entered and six people were suffocated to death,” the sources said.
Moreover, the residents were unable to take the staircase as their doors, which had electronic locks, were automatically locked and they were unable to reopen it as the wires of the doors and its control box on the first floor were gutted in fire.
Owner not in house
According to Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg, their department received the call about the blaze around 8 pm on Thursday after which 8 fire engines were immediately dispatched to the spot i.e. ZP block, Pitampura.
The owner of the building resided on the first and second floors and was not present at the time of the incident.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a case under sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others.) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and began investigating the incident.
Door lock malfunctions
Lone survivor Sahil said he rushed to rescue his parents but found out that the main door, operated by a switch had malfunctioned and was not reopening even manually.
Deceased cook sole earner; terrace saved lone survivor
For Anita, the wife of Santosh, who worked as a cook and died in the fire, life has come to a standstill.
“I have a 4-year-old daughter. Who will feed us now? Santosh was the only earning member,” inconsolable Anita told this paper. According to police, Santosh (25) was found dead on the top floor of the four-storey building. He used to cook for Shanu and Kirti, both sisters, who also died in the fire.
“I called my husband around 7 pm and asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner and he told me anything you like....It was about 9:30 pm, when I called him again and his phone was unreachable,” said Anita.
Survivor’s story
Sahil, son of Rakesh Gupta, residing on the third floor, said he had noticed smoke emanating from the lower floors after which he rushed to the terrace side to check what had happened.
He found that a fire had engulfed the first and second floors of the building. He screamed and called neighbours for help.
“Sahil then rushed to his floor to rescue his parents but he found out that the main door, which had electronic locks and was operated by a switch had malfunctioned. The door was not opening even manually,” his relative said. Sahil was rescued by firemen.