Fire in makeshift hut kills 3 in Anand Vihar, police register FIR

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) A fire in a makeshift hut near in East Delhi's Anand Vihar triggered a cylinder blast early Tuesday, killing three occupants, two of them brothers, while one managed to escape, an official said on Tuesday.

The Delhi Fire Services received a distress call at 2:22 am and dispatched three fire tenders to the scene near the AGCR Enclave.

A fire official said the flames were brought under control by 2:50 am but by that time Jaggi (30), his brother Shyam Singh (40) and another person Kanta Prasad (37) were charred to death, a fire official said, adding they are all residents of Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh.

Station House Officer Feroz confirmed the three charred bodies were recovered from inside the hut around 3:10 am, police said in a statement, adding the three died due to asphyxiation.

Delhi Police said it has registered an FIR against unknown persons.

"We have registered an FIR at the Anand Vihar police station under Section 106(1) (causing death by negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Multiple teams have been formed to probe the incident," Shahdara Deputy Commissioner of Police Prashant Gautam said.

The police have handed over the bodies of the two brothers to their families after post-mortem, who are taking them to Auraiya for their last rites.

The deceased and another labourer, who reportedly worked with the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), lived in the makeshift hut located near a DDA plot on the Manglam Road, the statement said.

"They reportedly used a small container of diesel placed on a cooler stand as a source of light in the hut. Nitin, the survivor, said that around 2 am, Shyam Singh woke up and noticed the fire. He tried to unlock the door but failed. As the blaze intensified, Nitin managed to escape but the other three got trapped in the flames," the statement said.

A gas cylinder inside the tent also exploded, further exacerbating the situation, it said.

A police source said Shyam and Kanta's father Rampal has questioned as to how one person managed to escape the fire while three others were charred to death.

"Rampal also lived in the same hut but had gone out after dinner on Monday. Police have recorded the statements of Rampal and Nitin," the source said.

While the authorities suspect that the diesel container might have triggered the fire, a probe is on to ascertain the exact cause of the blaze, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the IGL in a statement termed the incident "unfortunate" and said it was not related to its operations.

"There are reports that IGL workers have been charred to death after a massive fire in Anand Vihar. While we are deeply saddened by this unfortunate fire incident, we would like to clarify that the incident is unrelated to IGL's operations. The deceased were not a part of IGL's workforce," the statement said. PTI BM SSJ TIR TIR