A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable was charred to death in a fire at the record room of CRPF academy in south Delhi’s RK Puram area on Saturday morning. The deceased has been identified as 42-year-old head constable lingam Gowda. The incident was reported around 2 am on Saturday. 

Fire officials say that the policeman was on guard at the record room and had collapsed due to suffocation. Gowda’s body was found under a computer table in the record room. According to fire officials, Gonda was not responding to the evacuation. It is assumed that inhaling thick smoke must have made him lose consciousness. He was dead before he could be taken to the hospital. Gowda was posted at the 4th floor of the office in RK Puram Sector 1. CRPF officials said that Gowda had informed his superiors about the fire and had tried to douse it with a fire extinguisher.

The fire broke out in the Electronic Data Processing centre of the force located in the building of training directorate office in RK Puram. The EDP cell of CRPF works in the training directorate wing and deals with the online record management of salary and other emoluments of the force.

Fire officials say that seven fire engines were rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control within three hours. Gowda’s body was recovered from the IT room. “We initially sent two tenders but since the blaze was spreading fast we had to send four more fire tenders. By the time we pulled out the CRPF official he had already lost his life. The fire was controlled by 3am,” said a senior fire official.