In two separate incidents that took place in the national Capital on Monday, a 72-year-old man was burned to death in South-East Delhi's Tughlaqabad village and a 16-year-old boy reportedly slipped into Yamuna river in Okhla and drowned, police said.
In the first case, senior citizen identified as Jaichand Singh was smoking beedi and was unaware when his t-shirt caught fire due to it. Bidhuri's wife told police that she had handed him some beedis and matches before the incident and he was alone on the ground floor of the house.
“Soon his clothes caught fire and he started shouting for help. As there was no water nearby, the fire eventually engulfed him and he fell down unconscious. He was alone in his house when the incident took place and later when people came to see him, he was found dead,” said the officer.
Immediately, a call was made to police and PCR reached the spot and took him to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. “The body has been sent for post-mortem and we are further investigating the matter from all angles,” said the officer.
In another incident in Okhla, the boy, identified as Mohammed Shadat, a resident of Batla House, who was searching for his money which had fallen off from his pocket near the Yamuna river, accidently slipped into it and drowned, said police, adding that the boy could not be rescued. The incident was reported at 3:15 pm on Monday and immediately a local who saw the boy slipping into the river made a call to police.
Therafter, boat club rescuers, fire brigade department and a team of police tried searching for the boy in the river but their efforts went in vain.