JOIN USA teenager was killed and another person was critically injured when a fire broke out at a factory in Gandhi Nagar area of east Delhi during the wee hours of Sunday, police said.
The dead is identified as Chotturam, 18, who hails from Bihar and worked at the factory in Kailash Nagar that manufactures vehicle seat covers.
Chotturam along with his colleague Deepu, 20, a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, were sleeping inside the factory when the fire broke out.
“We got a call about the incident at around 3 am. We later informed the fire department and over a dozen fire tenders were rushed to the spot,” police said and added that it took two hours to douse the blaze.
Chotturam and Deepu were rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Shahdara, where the doctors declared Chotturam as brought dead. “Deepu is recuperating at the hospital,” police said.
Although the reason for fire is yet to be known, police are probing a sabotage angle.
A case has been registered with Gandhi Nagar Police Station.
“A short circuit may have led to the fire, but we are probing all angles. The factory owner has been identified as Sanjay Kumar Srivastav,” police said.
The fire had also spread to an adjacent building owned by Rajan Srivastav.
He claims that goods worth several lakh rupees for his daughter’s wedding on February 14 were destroyed in the fire. Police are investigating the cause of the fire.