Shopkeeper charred to death in Lucknow’s BKT grocery shop fire

Fire department officials said that locals said that the fire in the shop was caused due to the bursting of the refrigerator compressor

A shopkeeper was charred to death, while consumer utility items worth several thousand rupees were gutted as a fire broke out in a grocery shop in the Bakshi Ka Talab area of Lucknow on Saturday morning.

The fire-ravaged shop in Bakshi ka Talab in Lucnow on Saturday (HT Photo)

The body of the deceased was taken to the government hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Fire department officials said that locals said that the fire in the shop was caused due to the bursting of the refrigerator compressor.

“Today at 8:36 am, a caller reported a fire in a shop in village Kotwa police station BKT under fire station Bakshi Ka Talab. The caller said that a man had been badly burnt. Fire service ambulance from FS BKT also left for the spot,” fire station officer, BKT, Prashant Kumar said.

On reaching the spot, it was seen that a grocery shop was on fire and a person (Shivbahal Maurya) was found burnt to death in it. Chief fire officer Lucknow Mangesh Kumar and civil police were also present.

In another incident of fire at a house near Sector 17, Munshi Pulia vegetable market, under the Indiranagar police station, a gas cylinder caught fire in the kitchen on the first floor of Subhash Chandra Shukla’s house.

The fire department team extinguished the fire but not before it had destroyed three rooms and a kitchen on the first floor of the house. House owner Subhash Chandra Shukla was partially burnt and was taken to hospital by the police for treatment.