Shahdara fire: Accused stored rubber goods in parking, did not heed warnings

NEW DELHI

Delhi Police, in the charge sheet in an incident of fire that took place six months ago at a five-storey residential building in Shahdara’s Mansarovar Park area that left four dead, residents had cautioned the owners against storing rubber wires on the ground floor, the parking area, but to no avail.

In the incident that took place on January 26, four people, including a nine-month-old girl died and two others were injured in the fire at the building in Ram Nagar. Then, investigators said the bodies of the victims were found on the staircase, indicating that they could not escape due to smoke and the burning material in the parking area. Police had registered a case under sections 285 (mischief by fire), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Surendra Choudhary said the chargesheet was submitted on Tuesday. The accused were identified as Mohit Kumar, and his grandparents Bharat Singh and Prabhawati Devi, owners of the building, all of whom were arrested. Kumar and Singh were held on January 27, and Devi was arrested on April 4. They were all subsequently released on bail.

According to the chargesheet, the residential building is built in about 50 square yards and is registered in Devi’s name, but Singh was its caretaker and manager, in effect. The ground floor, which is a parking space for vehicles, was being used by Kumar “with consent and sweet will of his grandparents... as a store house filled with plastic and rubber products used in manufacturing of various household items. The occupants of the house including the tenants were left with very narrow and meagre space for residents to pass through the staircases up to the entry/exit gate,” according to the charge sheet, which was accessed by HT.

The deceased were identified as Gauri Soni, 40, her 17-year-old son, Pratham Soni, Rachna Devi, 28, and her nine-month-old daughter, Ruhi Kumar. The injured people were identified as Radhika Kumar, 16, and Prabhawati Devi, 70.

In the charge sheet, police said Kumar and his grandparents not only blocked the common passage and caused hindrance, “but also had put the lives of residents on stake by using the space for his business purposes in residential area.”

The upper ground floor was occupied by Singh and Devi. The first floor was occupied by Vinod, his wife Rachna and daughter Ruhi. Ashutosh Soni, his wife Gauri, and children Radhika and Pratham stayed on the second floor and the top floor was occupied by a tenant, identified as Satyam Mishra, who lived with his family but wasn’t home at the time of the incident.

Police said they recorded Soni and Vinod’s statements as witnesses in the case. “He (Ashutosh) categorically alleged that on various occasions, he cautioned both Mohit and Bharat Singh that storing such rubber goods not only cause foul smell but also cause hindrance in contingency but they never give heed to their repeated requests,” the charge sheet said.

Further, Kumar avoided keeping any firefighting equipment, “apparently with deliberate intentions”, despite being aware that the goods were inflammable, the charge sheet said.

Police said that the accused persons stored rubber material in bulk (which was used to make wipers) on the ground floor having a total area of approximately 41.8 square metres. “Due to the storage of bulk rubber material and vehicle parking at the ground floor, the only entrance/exit passage of the building was hindered and has resulted in the unfortunate incident,” the charge sheet concluded.

A fire department official said that there are several residential buildings in Shahdara and other parts of the Capital where commercial activities are undertaken in parking spaces and go unchecked. “Complaints are made to police and municipal authorities but these activities are still thriving,” the officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

On May 26, an incident of fire-related deaths in similar circumstances was reported from Krishna Nagar. Three persons, including a 68-year-old woman, died in a fire started from an illegal godown used to store scooters.