Two people, including a woman, died in a fire that broke out at a residential building in central Delhi’s West Patel Nagar around 8.30 am on Monday.
The deceased people have been identified as Rinku (38) and Sneha (30). Police said Rinku was the owner of the four-storey building and lived on the ground floor, while Sneha lived as a tenant on the second floor.
According to police, the fire originated in ground floor where Rinku got stuck in his room and was charred to death. Within a few minutes, the smoke filled the entire building and the tenant, Sneha, is suspected to have choked and turned unconscious, while the other residents managed to evacuate the building, said police.
Sneha died of asphyxia, said a police official of Central district. Rinku survived a severe accident several years ago with a brain injury which turned him mentally unstable, said a police official privy to the investigation.
“He often used to collect discarded items randomly from the road and junkyards around the colony, and gather them at his house. Today’s fire is suspected to have originated from the heap of discarded materials stuffed at a room in the ground floor of the building,” said the official.
A rescue operation was launched and Sneha was rushed to a hospital where she later died. Rinku could not be rescued, said police.
The fire was doused in around 45 minutes, after which a cooling operation was launched by the fire department, said a fire official, adding three fire tenders were rushed to the spot with teams of police and Delhi Disaster Management Authority too turning up.
A case under relevant sections of law has been registered against unknown persons and investigation is underway, police added.