NEW DELHI: Days after a massive fire broke out in a four-storey commercial building near Mundka Metro station killed 27 people, preliminary investigation has revealed that the “switchboard on the first floor of the building had sparked while cardboards and other material caught fire” and it spread due to congestion.
DCP (outer) Sameer Sharma on Wednesday said, “We have conducted initial investigation and found that in the first floor, there was a change-over switchboard for electricity connection. In the same place, they kept the cardboard and dumped other material which may have supposed to cause the fire.”
The DCP said the preliminary enquiry, conducted by the Delhi Police, has also revealed that the building was congested due to storage as well as assembling unit for CCTV and routers. “We have also found that there were workstations and offices. Steel-sheets were used to separate staircase from the floors. There are partitions inside the buildings also to use as storage as well. But all the facts will become more clear by the forensic reports,” he said.
Police said Lakra lived with his mother, wife and two children on the top floor of the same building and escaped by jumping onto the terrace of the adjoining building. Lakra, owner of the four-storey commercial building, had applied for a factory licence in 2016 – a year after the property was transferred in his name following his father’s death in 2015.
“We have taken around 15 documents from both the Goel brothers and Lakra related to property, company documents, rent agreement. All are photocopies and we have sent these letters to more than ten agencies to further verify these documents and details,” the DCP said.
“Lakra also disclosed that after his father’s death, the property was transferred to his name in 2016 and he applied for a factory license. “He also submitted one time fees, and the property was given on rent for a liquor store. He rented out the floors to the Goels in late 2017,” Sharma said. Sharma assured action against officials if they are found guilty of collusion or negligence.