4 of family, including 2 kids, among 5 killed in building fire

Five people, including four of a family with two children, were killed in fire in a multi-storied building housing a goods shop and a godown in central Bengaluru's Nagarthpet on Saturday. Seventeen others managed to escape unhurt, averting a major tragedy. 

The deceased are Madan Kumar Purohit (36), his wife Sangeeta Kanwar (32), their two children Mithesh (8) and Vihan (5) and neighbour Suresh Kumar (26). They were all natives of Rajasthan. Madan rented and worked in the ground floor unit in his shop Madan Steels, while Suresh worked and slept in the godown on the second floor.  

The fire, suspected to have been triggered by an electric short-circuit, broke out a little after 3 am on the ground floor of the ground-plus-four storied building on a 36x57 ft plot in the narrow Rajanna Lane in Thigalarpet in Nagarathpet.

The fire control room received the distress call at 3.15 am and immediately dispatched over five water bowsers. 

They, however, faced a challenge as the vehicles couldn't approach the building due to the narrow lane, not wider than four metres. Since there was no water supply, 100-metre-long pipes had to be connected to the vehicles and brought close to the site to douse the fire, multiple firefighters on the ground told DH. The narrow 1.5-feet-wide staircase further hampered rescue. 

The first body to be recovered was that of Madan, who was charred to death on the ground floor. Officers said Madan was working overnight, while his wife and two children were asleep in their locked house on the third floor. The three are suspected to have died of asphyxiation in their sleep before being burned by the blaze.  

Suresh, who was asleep on the second floor, was subsequently found dead. "There were seven others on the second floor who managed to escape. There were 10 more on the fourth floor who escaped through the terrace.

The godown contained rubber mats and clothes covered in plastic wrappings, among other items, that were stacked one above the other, leading to the fire spreading quickly," a senior firefighter from the spot told DH. "The entire construction appeared illegal: there was a commercial setup on the ground floor. And on the subsequent floors, people were living in non-commercial spaces. No adequate safety and security setup was observed."

Home Minister visits site 

Home Minister G Parameshwara visited the spot to assess the situation. Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Central) Hakay Akshay Machhindra, and senior firefighters, including director (Fire and Emergency Services) T N  Shivashankara, were at the site. The operation was called off late in the afternoon after the bodies were recovered and fire doused.

"Prima facie, it appears the fire was triggered by a short circuit. A detailed probe will reveal the cause. This area has thousands of houses with four and five floors on small 30x40 sites. The BBMP will have to take a look at this since they give the permission and trade licences. A lot of these people have set up godowns and live there," Parameshwara told reporters.  

The building, Krishna Complex, was owned by Balakrishnayya Shetty and Sandeep Shetty. Halasuru Gate police registered the FIR against them under BNS Sections 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 324 (mischief). The FIR noted that the owners neither took any safety precautions nor provided emergency exits in the buildings where they leased shops and also rented housing spaces.