Ghaziabad: 75-year-old woman burnt to death in locked flat, officials find no fire source

Firemen could not detect any short-circuit in the switchboards, any mosquito coil that was lit or anything like diyas or candles in the house

A 75-year-old woman was burnt to death in a suspicious fire that occurred inside a locked flat in Ghaziabad’s Panchsheel Colony under the jurisdiction of Tila Morh police station on Sunday afternoon, officers aware of the matter said.

The police said that the deceased woman was ailing and she could walk only with the help of a walker. (Representaional image)

According to the police, the woman burned to death in her bed, and there were no traces of a fire anywhere else in the house. The police could not identify any source of the fire in the house, said investigators.

The deceased woman was identified as Bhagwati Devi. She lived with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in a second-floor flat.

According to the police, she was alone in the house on Sunday and the house was locked from the outside. Fire department officials said that they received information about the incident from neighbours who complained about thick smoke coming out of the second-floor flat.

“We received information around 1.39pm. Locals informed us that the flat was locked from the outside and the woman was inside. So, they said that they were breaking the door. We rushed one fire tender to the spot. The woman had died by then and she was half burnt. The fire erupted only on her bed and we could not come across any source which ignited the fire,” said Rahul Pal, chief fire officer (CFO). Fire officials said the woman was half burnt on her lower body.

The CFO said that the officials could not detect any short-circuit in the switchboards, any mosquito coil that was lit or anything like diyas or candles in the house. “We doused the fire and by then the police also arrived. They are conducting an investigation,” the CFO added.

The police said that the deceased woman was ailing and she could walk only with the help of a walker. “She was alone in the 2BHK flat on the second floor and it was locked from the outside. Her son, Som Dutt, along with his wife and their two minor children, lived with her. On Sunday afternoon, Som Dutt and his family had gone to his in-laws’ house in Nand Nagri in Delhi. The family left the house around 11.30pm and the fire possibly started thereafter,” said Siddharth Gautam, assistant commissioner of police (Shalimar Garden).

The ACP said that the flat was locked from outside by the family before they left the house.

“We have sent the body for an autopsy. We could not find any possible source of fire which led to the incident. The death is in mysterious circumstances and we have also roped in our forensic team to examine the incident site. The victim’s family will be questioned,” the ACP added.