2 customers dead in Karol Bagh blaze; store lacked NOC: Delhi Police

At least 93 people, including staff members, were inside the store when the blaze started, police said

A customer died of suffocation inside an elevator while another was charred to death after a fire broke out at a fully functional five-storey multi-chain departmental store outlet in Karol Bagh in central Delhi on Friday evening, officials from the fire and police departments said.

Firefighters carry out cooling operations at Vishal Mega Mart in Karol Bagh in central Delhi on Saturday. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

At least 93 people, including staff members, were inside the store when the blaze started, police said.

The body of 25-year-old Kunwar Dhirendra Vikram, a civil services aspirant, was recovered from the elevator that had stopped functioning as soon as the fire broke out at around 6.30pm on Friday.

The other victim was identified as 30-year-old Pawan Gautam, who police said got trapped on the second floor of the building while shopping. His charred body was recovered on Saturday afternoon after concluding the rescue operation.

Initial probe into the blaze has pointed to lapses on part of the building owner — it did not have a fire no-objection certificate nor any fire-fighting arrangements, officials said.

Police have a lodged a case of death by negligence, said deputy commissioner of police (central) Nidhin Valsan.

According to police and fire officials, the blaze had broken out on the second floor of the building located on Padam Singh Road in Karol Bagh, likely due to a short-circuit, according to preliminary probe.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said 13 fire tenders were rushed to the spot after they received a call arpund 6.45pm. It was brought under control by around 1.30am, after which a man’s body was found inside the elevator, said Garg.

The body was identified as that of Vikram. On Saturday afternoon, officials recovered the body of Gautam, who was from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. He was married and lived at a rented house in Rajendra Nagar.

Police said no other casualties or injuries were reported in the incident.

“Initial inquiry has revealed there were 23 staffers and 70 customers in total at the store when the fire started. While others timely vacated the building, Vikram was stuck in the lift and Gautam was trapped on the floor,” added the DCP.

During HT’s visit to the site on Saturday, sections of the front of the building had been broken by the fire department, which an official at the spot said facilitates spraying of water inside to douse the blaze. Rubble in the building was also still being cleared, said fire station officer Parveen Yadav. Four fire tenders along with firefighters remained deployed outside the building to continue the cooling operation as the heat generated from the huge pile of gutted fabrics, household and kitchen items was igniting fire and smoke. The cooling operation is likely to continue on Sunday.

HT also spoke to eyewitnesses -- according to 68-year-old Murli Mani, the owner of the hotel located next to the store, around 50 people were inside the building when he saw the smoke billowing from the store. “I and some workers rushed in to help people evacuate. We also opened the door to the emergency staircase.”

Meanwhile, the family of the deceased UPSC aspirant, who belonged to Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh, alleged that there was neither a panic button in the lift nor a lift attendant was deployed. A senior police officer who did not want to be named said they will probe the family’s allegations.