Police probe whether heater at Delhi’s Pitampura building led to fire

On Thursday evening around 8pm, Sahil Gupta, 30, scrambled up the stairs to the terrace of the four-storey building he lives in — to check the origin of a suspected fire, moments after he saw smoke emanating from the building. As soon as he realised that the situation was more perilous than he perceived, he rushed downstairs to inform his family so they could evacuate the building.

Also Read: 5 killed, 2 hurt as fire guts Pitampura building

However, his parents and sister, who were inside the second-floor house, could not escape because the door was jammed. The fire had rapidly consumed parts of the building even as smoke shrouded the stairway — the only escape route for the residents.

Sahil’s parents — Rakesh and Renu, both 62 — and his sister Shweta Gupta, 30, were among the six people who died in the tragedy on Thursday. The other three deceased were sisters Shanu Verma, 27, and Kriti Verma, 25, and their cook Santosh Kumar, 25.

According to the police, the six victims — five of them tenants — died of asphyxiation after a fire broke out on the upper ground floor of the building, suspected to have begun due to a room heater left unattended. A senior police officer confirmed that a heater was recovered from the house on the upper ground floor, occupied by the owners of the building Subhash Gupta, his wife Mamta Gupta, both in their early 50s and their house help. HT could not verify the name and age of the help.

The couple’s son and daughter-in-law live on the first floor and were in Mumbai when the incident happened. Subhash, who runs a utensils factory, was at work and had not returned home.

Manju Saluja, 50, who lives in an adjacent building, said that Mamta had taken the help to see a doctor because he was unwell, which was when the fire broke out. “When she returned, the help first went inside the building and rushed out immediately. He told Mamta not to go inside because the staircase was filled with smoke. They then started shouting and told people living on the upper floors to come out,” said Saluja.

A second neighbour, asking not to be named, said that Mamta had left the heater on. “She mentioned that she had kept the heater switched on and put a cloth on it to dry. Police will confirm,” the neighbour said.

Deputy commissioner of police (north west) Jitendra Meena said that a case under sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire), 337 (causing hurt) and 304A (causing death by negligence) was registered and an investigation was taken up.

“A heater has been recovered along with burnt wires and other material. What caused the fire is a matter of investigation,” said the police officer cited above anonymously. Officials said that the smoke rapidly spread to the staircase and engulfed the entire building, which hampered evacuation. Fire officials said they entered the building through the terrace and broke open the doors as they were jammed due to the impact of the blaze.

A two hour-long rescue

The Delhi Fire Services said they received a call at 8.07pm regarding the blaze and eight fire tenders from the Wazirpur station reached the spot within minutes.

“When we reached the spot, we could see fire on the upper ground floor. One team immediately started firefighting and another started the rescue operation. Locals told us that people were stuck on the upper floors and there was no way to go from the parking area so we reached the terrace of the adjacent house and hopped onto the terrace of this building,” said station officer Vijay Dahiya.

Fire officials and local police who were conducting the operation said they found the terrace door locked. When it was broken open, firemen found three people — Shanu, Kriti and Santosh — lying unconscious. “Perhaps, they were trying to escape through the roof but couldn’t,” the officer said. The sisters later died at the hospital.

Dahiya said that the two sisters were still breathing when they were rescued. One firefighter took Shanu to the terrace to administer CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and another took Kriti out of the building through the staircase because the smoke had subsided a little. “Santosh is suspected to have died on the spot,” Dahiya said, adding that the process took around 30 minutes.

The fire was doused by 9pm and the smoke cleared significantly. Firefighters then began the search operation and were informed that there were people residing on the second floor as well.

“We went to the second floor and broke open the door. We found one person in the washroom of the house and two inside the room. We suspect they were dead but they were moved to hospital immediately and were brought down by stretchers,” Dahiya said.

Sunil Aggarwal, a relative of Rakesh Gupta, said that Shweta, who was married and worked with a private firm, had come to stay with her parents for a few days. The fifth occupant of the second-floor house, Simran (Sahil’s wife) was away at work when the tragedy unfolded.

An endless tragedy

On the third floor, Anil Kumar lived with his wife, son Sahil and daughters Kirti and Shanu. Anil runs a business in Karol Bagh and his son works with him, police said, adding that the two daughters, who died, worked in private firms. Anil and Sahil were at work while his wife was at her mother’s house.

Among the six victims, Santosh was the only one who was not a resident of the building. His wife, Anita, told HT that he visited the third-floor house twice a day to cook meals for the family, adding that the family paid him ₹10,000 a month. Santosh was the father of a four-year-old girl, Ananya. “My parents-in-law passed away a year ago. It was just me, him and our daughter. How will I raise her by myself now... I will go back to the village,” said Anita. A native of Raebarelli in UP, Santosh used to ride an e-rickshaw as well to make ends meet.

At the mortuary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital on Friday, Anil — who lost two daughters in the tragedy — consoled Anita and told her that he would take care of them and also look after Ananya’s education. Anil arranged and paid for an ambulance for the family to take Santosh’s mortal remains to their native village.