Two women charred to death as auto catches fire

Nisha and Shehnaz were killed when the three wheeler they were travelling in, caught fire due to gas leakage while driver Harish Kumar escaped unhurt.

Two young women were charred to death when an autorickshaw caught fire in the national capital early this morning.

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Nisha (30) and Shehnaz (35) were killed when the three wheeler they were travelling in, caught fire due to gas leakage while driver Harish Kumar escaped unhurt.

The incident took place on the outer circle of Connaught Place around 1:30 am, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Shanker Dass told PTI.

Nisha was a resident of Pratap Nagar in Ghaziabad while Shehnaz was a resident of Sonia Vihar.

Nisha's husband told police that his wife had informed him that she would be going to a relative's place in Gurgaon around 5 pm last evening. Later, around 10 pm, she again called him telling that she had not found the address.

"We are trying to reconstruct the events preceding the incident. How these women got together, what they were doing before the incident and other details," Dass said.

Fire brigade officials have informed the police that leakage of gas from the auto continued even after the fire was doused, he said adding that preliminary investigations suggest that there was no foul play.

"However, we are not ruling out anything and we are investigating all angles," Dass said.