Unidentified man charred to death in fire in portacabin

An unidentified man was charred to death in a portacabin that was to serve as a Mohalla Clinic in central Delhi’s Daryaganj in the early hours of Monday, the police

An unidentified man was charred to death in a portacabin that was to serve as a Mohalla Clinic in central Delhi’s Daryaganj in the early hours of Monday, the police said.

HT Image

Sanjay Bhatia, the deputy commissioner of police (central), said that prima facie, the dead man was a homeless person who was using the cabin to sleep. “Since the body was charred, there is nothing to help us identify him. We are speaking to local residents to help us with the identification,” the DCP said.

The portacabin located near Delhi Gate was locked from the outside and never used as the Mohalla Clinic for which it was set up, the DCP said.

The fire department said it received a call about the blaze a little after midnight and sent three fire tenders to douse the flames.

“While the blaze was doused quickly, we recovered the charred body of a man in the remains. We informed the police about it,” a fire department official said.

The DCP said that the window of the portacabin was open, and it was likely that the man used the opening to enter and exit the cabin.

The police have registered a case of causing death by negligence and are investigating the incident even as the trigger for the blaze remains unknown.