NEW DELHI: A pall of gloom has descended on the Palam area, where nine members of a family died in a blaze that erupted on Wednesday. Relatives and neighbours of the Kashyaps remember them as warm and sociable.
Accounts from relatives and neighbours suggest that, even as the fire raged, family members tried to save one another rather than fleeing for their own lives. A relative, Deepak, said Rajendra Kashyap had long served as the Pradhan of the Sadh Nagar Market and was also associated with a political party. He owned a four-storey building in the Sadh Nagar main market.
Deepak added that Rajendra had been in Goa for the past few days. His family included his wife, Lado Devi, five sons, and a daughter. Lado, who was unwell and used a wheelchair, was at home at the time. Four of the sons were married. The eldest, Kamal, lived with his wife Ashu and their three daughters, while the second son, Sunil, lived with his wife Gauri and their two sons. Sunil was in Shimla with his family when the fire broke out.
The third son, Pravesh, has a wife, Kavita, and a son, Vyom. Kavita had gone to her parental home in Najafgarh with their son to attend a wedding.
The fourth son, Anil, was on the third floor with his wife Deepika and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. When the fire broke out, he found himself trapped and, in a desperate attempt to save his child, jumped from the building with her. While both survived, Deepika died. The fifth son, Sachin, who is unmarried, was on the second floor and managed to escape by jumping onto a neighbouring rooftop. Rajendra’s youngest child, Himanshi, a PhD scholar, was on the second floor with her mother.
An employee at the family’s showroom said, “The place would not feel the same anymore as we have lost them.”