BHOPAL: A blaze possibly triggered by the Akhand Jyoti (eternal flame) of the temple housed in one of the rooms of a penthouse, choked a businessman-turned-Congress leader Pravesh Agrawal to death in Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital Indore early on Thursday.
While the 40-year-old Congress leader died due to asphyxia, his 14-year-old elder daughter Saumya has been admitted at the Bombay Hospital, where her condition remains stable.
Pravesh’s wife Shweta, saved her daughter’s life, by driving her timely to the Bombay Hospital, around 5 km from the family’s penthouse located on the first floor of the building which houses the Mahindra showroom owned by Agrawal on the ground floor.
According to Lasudiya police station inspector Neetu Singh, the blaze was triggered at around 5 am. “On the spot investigations suggest the strong possibility of the fire having triggered through the Akhand Jyoti lit in the temple in one of the rooms. Assets in that particular room and adjoining store space was gutted. It was the heavy smoke emanating from the blaze, which engulfed the entire penthouse.”
While the elder daughter Saumya was sleeping alone in one room, her parents Pravesh and Shweta and youngster sister Mayra (10) were asleep in the other room, when the blaze erupted.
Since the family employed a couple of servants and guards, they informed the police and saved Shweta and Mayra in time.
“The first response vehicle (FRV) of police reached the spot and managed to get Pravesh Agrawal out from the heavy smoke. He was unconscious and on being rushed to the hospital, the doctors declared him as brought dead,” Singh added.
Agrawal, the owner of the Mahindra showroom, was also a Congress leader, who was considered close to former MP CM and ex-state party chief Kamal Nath.
Expressing grief over the tragedy, Nath posted on social media platform X, “I was deeply pained to hear the news of the demise of Congress leader Pravesh Agrawal. He was a true soldier of the Congress. May god grant peace to his soul. I pray for the swift recovery of the other family members.”
