Fire kills three members of a family

A 35-year-old property dealer along with his wife and two-year-old son were found dead at their house in south west Delhi’s Chhawla in the wee hours of Sunday.

The police said they suffocated to death in a fire at the house. The family had turned on their room heater the previous night, but the investigating officers are also probing the angle of fire due to short-circuit.

The deceased have been identified as Abdul Rehman, his wife Shabana, 30, and son Faizal. The police said the incident occurred when they were sleeping on the ground floor of a two-storey building in Chhawla’s Qutub Vihar area. Abdul’s mother-in-law Shamina and brother-in-law were sleeping on the first floor.

“The incident came to light when a call was made to the police control room at 2 am,” said a police officer.

Shamina told the police she woke up on noticing smoke in her room. She went outside the room and noticed a plume of smoke coming from the ground floor. She raised an alarm and went to another room where her son was sleeping.

They managed to escape through the balcony to a neighbouring building. “Abdul, Shabana and Faizal got stuck on the ground floor,” the officer added.

Two fire tenders were called to the spot and the fire was brought under control in about 30 minutes.

The police and fire officials then found Abdul, Shabana and Faizal lying unconscious in their bedroom. A heater was found in the room and all the doors and windows of the house were found shut.

“They were taken to hospital where Abdul and Shabana were declared brought dead. Faizal was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital, where he died around 5 pm on Sunday,” the officer said.

It is the third such incident in less than a month. On December 31, a family of three, including a six-year-old, was found dead at their south Delhi house.

On December 21, three men who worked at a businessman’s house had also died of asphyxiation after they lit a coal fire to keep themselves warm in south Delhi’s Hauz Khas.