E-Paper
4 of family charred to death in Palghar
PALGHAR Four members of a family, including two children, were charred to death after a fire gutted their grocery shop-cum-house in Brahmangaon, at Mokhada, Palghar, on Monday around 2
PALGHAR Four members of a family, including two children, were charred to death after a fire gutted their grocery shop-cum-house in Brahmangaon, at Mokhada, Palghar, on Monday around 2.30am. A neighbour broke a window and rescued two other children, who were stranded inside the house.
On Sunday, the family celebrated Holika Dahan and went to sleep, after rolling the shutter half down.
“Around 2.30am, a huge fire was reported from the house. Ananta Moule, the store owner, who was sleeping in another room near the house, rushed to the spot after hearing the screams. The store was gutted in the fire and his wife Dwarkabai, 47; mother Gangubai, 78; and children Krishna, 10, and Pallavi, 15, were charred to death. Their neighbour, Madhukar Moule, managed to enter the store and rescued two other children, Ashwini, 16, and Bhavesh, 12. They are being treated in Nashik and Mokhada government hospitals. Ananta has suffered head injuries while trying to rescue his family,” said a Mokhada police official.
Mokhada police have registered a case of accidental death and are waiting for the post-mortem report. Locals suspect the fire could be due to a short circuit. However, Kiran Nagaonkar, superintendent engineer, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), Palghar, said short circuit is the preliminary conclusion, but at an adjacent spot, there is a kerosene shop located, and the fire could have started from there.
The exact cause of the fire is being probed.
