Woman, minor daughters burnt alive in Karnal building fire

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 31

A woman and her two minor daughters were burnt alive in a fire in a building at Ram Nagar here on Thursday.

The police, fire fighters and locals managed to rescue another family after breaking the wall of the building that was completely gutted.

The victims have been identified as Pooja (28), wife of Raj Kumar, her daughters Pari (5) and Suhana (7). 

Kumar, a sanitation employee of Karnal Municipal Corporation, was living in a rented accommodation on the first floor of the building with his family. The ground floor had a sofa manufacturing unit. 

The family of one Kuldeep, who was living in a room on the first floor, was rescued in the nick of time, Mohan Lal, SHO City, said.

Reasons behind the fire are yet to be ascertained, but the preliminary investigation suggested it to be a result of short circuit in the sofa unit.

The firefighters had to demolish the walls of the building at three places to bring the three victims out. They were rushed to Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital (KCGMCH), where they were declared dead.

As per the residents, the fire broke out in the sofa manufacturing unit and engulfed the entire building in minutes. Eyewitnesses said Pooja shut the door but she along with her daughters was trapped inside the room.

DSP Raj Kumar reached the spot, while SDM Narinder Kumar Malik reached KCGMCH and assured the family of justice. 

The aggrieved family refused to get the post-mortem conducted till action against the building owner and sofa manufacturing unit owner was taken. They were assured of the action, but remained adamant on the FIR against the both.

Mohan Lal, SHO City, said they have registered a case against Rakesh Kumar, owner of sofa manufacturing unit, and Virbhan Singh, owner of the building, under Section 304-A of the IPC. No arrest has been made so far.

The post-mortem would be conducted on Friday, he said.