Delhi Mundka fire: Building, factory owners to be quizzed; DNA samples taken

The officer said that Lakra, during interrogation, told the police that he rented out the three floors of the four-storey building to the Goyal brothers for a monthly fee of Rs1.20 lakh.

The Delhi Police on Monday said that they will seek the custody of the two businessmen who were running an industrial unit in a Mundka building where a devastating fire killed 27 people on Friday in order to question them along with the owner of the building.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel clear the charred debris from a burnt floor a day after a fire broke out in a commercial building at Mundka, New Delhi. (HT PHOTO.)(HT_PRINT)

A senior police officer associated with the probe said that the owner, Manish Lakra, is under two-day police custody while the businessmen -- Harish Goyal and Varun Goyal -- are in jail. He added that a joint interrogation will help the police to get clarity on the business agreement and the illegalities involved in the running of the industrial unit.

The Goyal brothers were arrested on Friday, and Lakra was arrested on Sunday.

The officer said that Lakra, during interrogation, told the police that he rented out the three floors of the four-storey building to the Goyal brothers for a monthly fee of Rs1.20 lakh. Lakra used to live on the terrace of the building and managed to escape to the adjacent building after the blaze broke out.

According to the probe so far, the building’s plan was not sanctioned by the North MCD and the industrial unit was running without mandatory licence from the civic body and a safety clearance from the fire department.

The officer said that they will recover documents related to the ownership of the building. “Lakra is also being questioned to ascertain why he did not get the mandatory police verification of his tenants,” the officer said asking not to be named.

“We will also grill him to identify the government officials from various agencies who helped him build the illegal structure, and then used it for commercial activities. Information from the agencies will also be sought to fix responsibility for the tragedy,” the officer added.

DNA sample collected

On Monday, the DNA sample of the daughter of motivational speaker Kaliash Jyani, who died along with his son Amit in the fire, was collected to identify their bodies, deputy commissioner of police (outer) Sameer Sharma said.

So far, DNA samples for 26 people killed in the fire have been collected, leaving just one missing person.

“DNA samples of 26 missing people have been taken from their blood relatives. But we have not been able to found the relative one missing woman,” said DCP Sharma.

All 27 bodies were charred beyond recognition in the fire at an industrial unit inside the building