3 charred to death in building fire

8 hurt in blaze started by man trying to kill his wife

A one-year-old baby, his father and an elderly woman were killed in a fire in west Delhi’s Palam in the wee hours of Saturday.

The fire was started by a man who wanted to kill his wife. While his wife and children survived, his mother-in-law was charred.

Anil, a 52-year-old driver, was arrested hours after the fire was reported to the fire department at 3.10 am. But it had started at least an hour ago as claimed by the residents.

“Footage of CCTV camera, installed around the crime scene, revealed that a person had set the parked vehicles on fire on the ground floor of the building,” said Suman Goyal, District Commissioner of Police (South West). Nine motorcycles and two cars were gutted.

The culprit was soon identified as Mamta’s husband. Mamta lives on the building’s ground floor near the parking lot.

After his arrest, Anil has confessed to have used petrol to set the basement on fire, said police. He lived in another house nearby after separating from Mamta, their two daughters and her 68-year-old mother Kailash Rana.

The other two who could not come out alive were medical representative Jagdeep, 32, and his baby Akshay. His wife however survived. She is hopitalised for her burns. They lived on the second floor.

“With his baby in his arms, Jagdeep rushed down the stairs. When he saw that the fire below left no escape route, he turned around to go upstairs but slipped and fell. The father and son were burnt to death inside,” neighbour Satyapal told Deccan Herald.

After the fire was doused, a woman’s charred body was found. She was identified as Kailash.
Of the 23 people in the building, eight persons, including a fire officer, suffered burn injuries. They are undergoing treatment.

A few of them, including culprit Anil Kumar’s daughter, also suffered fractures while jumping from balconies. Some, however, succeeded in climbing over to the next building’s balconies.

The only exit of the building was through the parking space. As fire engulfed the entire area, the building residents were left with no safe exit.