Victim 27: Search for DNA sample to identify casualty in Mundka fire

Police are still looking for someone who could provide a sample for Geeta. Until they find someone, there is no way to find out if she died in the fire or has gone missing after the accident

Geeta Devi, 42, lived in a modest rented room, which had no windows, in the Mubarakpur Dabas village’s Parvesh Nagar area in north-west Delhi. She lived alone, her husband, Upendra Shah, passed away in 2018, and according to the landlord no relative has visited her since 2009 -- the year when she moved to the accommodation.

Geeta Devi’s rented house at Parvesh Nagar, on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

Geeta is suspected to be among the 27 people who died in the devastating fire that broke out in a CCTV assembling unit at a four-storey building in Mundka. Since the bodies were completely charred, the police are getting DNA tests done to ensure that bodies are handed over to the right claimant. So blood relatives of 26 victims have submitted DNA samples.

But the police are still looking for someone who could provide a sample for Geeta. Until they could find someone, there is no way to find out if she died in the fire or has gone missing after the accident.

Geeta was among nearly 100 workers who were present in the building last Friday to listen to a motivational lecture that the company owner had arranged. She had joined the company just ten days before the incident.

Inside her room in Parvesh Nagar, 10 bottles of water were stacked neatly on the ground, a red gown was hanging on a wire and all utensils were stuffed in a steel basket. There was no sign of life.

However, Anita Anand, 40, the owner of the property hopes that Geeta is alive.

Anita said Geeta and her husband Upendra rented the first-floor room in 2009. The couple had no children, and told the landlady that they were from Bihar’s Gaya district. “But no relative every visited them. It was just the two of them. Upendra was physically disabled,” she said. Upendra passed away in 2018, she added.

Anita said Geeta did not have enough money to carry out the last rites of her husband. Then, the neighbours pooled money and helped Geeta. ““None of their relatives visited on Upendra’s death. Or even after that to check on Geeta,” said Santosh Kumar, Geeta’s neighbour for the past seven years.

When the fire broke out on May 13, Anita’s son, Bhaskar, 21, a BTech student, reached the spot and waited for four hours for Geeta to come out, but she didn’t. Bhaskar said a fellow worker told him that Geeta fell sick due to the heavy smoke and started puking. “She kept saying ‘Geeta mar gayi’ (Geeta is dead),” Bhaskar said.

Anita and Bhaskar also visited the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital’s mortuary - where the dead bodies are preserved - on May 14 but couldn’t recognise Geeta. “Since no one ever visited her, we had no way of knowing who her family members could be. We asked neighbours too but no one knew anything. We suspect that her mobile phone was also burnt in the fire. The police have taken her number and they might be able to find someone from her call history,” Bhaskar said.

Geeta used to sustain on the monthly widow pension and odd jobs. “She never had a steady job. And it’s unfortunate that she died on her first proper job,” Anita said.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer) Sameer Sharma said, “We are looking for her parents. It’s yet unknown whether they’re alive. We have been told she is originally from Bihar. If we don’t find a sample, then one may have to assume that the body which doesn’t match with a sample may be hers”.

The property owner has locked Geeta’s room with all her belongings intact. They expressed the hope that she might be admitted to a different hospital and return in a few days. “If she doesn’t, then we’ll perform her last rites,” Anita said.