NEW DELHI: Three labourers, two brothers among them, were killed in a fire that gutted their shanty in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar area in the wee hours of Tuesday, officials said.
According to police, labourers Jaggi (30), resident of UP ‘s Banda, Shyam Singh (40), and his brother Kanta Prasad (37), both residents of UP’s Auraiya district, and Nitin (32), resident of Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad, were sleeping in the temporary hut around 11 pm on Monday.
The four, labourers of IGL company, used to reside in a tent on a DDA plot near the drain, besides the Rotary Club office, police said.
According to fire officials, upon receiving information, three fire tenders were rushed to the scene and the fire was controlled at 2.50 am. After dousing the fire, charred bodies of the victims were recovered from the gutted shanty.
Nitin, who survived the accident, said they would keep a box of diesel on the cooler stand in the tent for lighting purposes. The temporary gate of the shanty was secured with a lock, he said.
According to Nitin’s statement, around 2 am, Shyam noticed a fire in the tent and woke him up. He attempted to unlock the door to escape the inferno but was unsuccessful. Nitin managed to escape the tent, but the others failed and were trapped in the fire.
Jaggi, Shyam, and Prasad were killed in the fire which also triggered the explosion of a cooking gas cylinder in the shanty. Nitin, the only surving occupant of the fateful hut, escaped with only minor burn injuries. Officials from the fire department, crime team, and FSL teams are examining the site, the DCP said.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the affected site to meet the bereaved families and assured them of assistance. She announced that the Delhi government would extend financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to each bereaved family.
Statements of Nitin and other labourers Jeetnder and Rampal (father of deceased Prasad and Shyam) have been recorded. The bodies were shifted to Sabzi Mandi mortuary for the post-mortem, police said.
An FIR has been registered under section 106 (1) BNS (causing death by negligence) at Anand Vihar police station.
The police said they are talking to locals to gather information and gain a clearer understanding of the sequence of events leading up to the unfortunate incident.