42-year-old man dies in car fire on way from Delhi to Gurugram

Police said that their preliminary inquiries revealed that the man was travelling from the Bijwasan Flyover towards Dwarka Expressway when it suddenly caught fire

NEW DELHI

The remains of the gutted vehicle. (HT Photo)

A 42-year-old man was charred to death in a fire that engulfed his car on Bijwasan Flyover near Dwarka Expressway, on his way home from RK Puram in Delhi to Gurugram on Monday night, police said on Tuesday.

Police said the control room was informed about the fire at around 10.30pm, and the caller alleged that a car was on fire with a family trapped inside. However, upon reaching the spot and putting out the fire, they found one half-burnt body on the driver’s seat of the Toyota Glaza.

The deceased was identified as Sandeep Singh, a resident of Nihal Colony in Palam Vihar of Gurugram. He ran a taxi business in RK Puram, deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Chaudhary said.

Singh’s relative Sumit Yadav said, “He was earlier a driver but started his own transport business in 2008. He is survived by his wife and two children – an 18-year-old son and a 22-year-old daughter. The son is studying in University of Delhi and the daughter is married.”

Police said that their preliminary inquiries revealed that the man was travelling from the Bijwasan Flyover towards Dwarka Expressway when it suddenly caught fire. The driver was unable to escape the vehicle in time.

Eyewitnesses told police that when the car caught fire, the man parked it to a side and tried to exit, but could not as the central locking system may have jammed, according to police. They identified the deceased through the car’s registration details. He was returning home from his office at the time of the incident, they said.

The fire department and a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team were called to the scene to ascertain the cause of the fire. The body was later moved to a mortuary for a post-mortem examination.