Pregnant woman, minor girl killed in fire at Sultanpuri house

What started as a week-long celebration of their son's wedding turned into a funeral ceremony, after a massive blaze broke out inside a family's house, killing a pregnant women and a 13-year-old girl in Sultanpuri on Sunday.

The four-storey house in Sultanpuri was gutted by the fire, which broke out around 4 am.

The women had returned from the marriage function and decided to retire at the house, while the men stayed back at the function.

Apart from the deceased, an eight-year-old girl sustained around 60 percent burn injuries and is admitted at the Safdarjung Hospital burn ward.

The deceased have been identified as Anjali (30), who was seven months pregnant, while the 13-year-old has been identified as Aditi, the niece of the deceased.

The victims died after they were trapped on the first floor of the building.

The injured girl, Tavishka, was saved from the blaze by her neighbour.

According to the residents, the fire tenders were late and they had to douse the fire themselves, after which the bodies were recovered.

Fire officials, on the other hand, claimed that they reached the spot and doused the fire by 7 am. "We had deputed two fire tenders to the spot. The cooling operations took some time," said a fire official.

According to the family, they had been preparing for the wedding ceremony of Rahul, a businessman. His family stays at a house in Sultanpuri's Krishan Vihar area.

The house where the blaze broke out belongs to Ramtirtha Bhardwaj, who has three daughters and three sons. The family is involved in the business of making artificial jewellery.

"My son got married yesterday night. In our family, the women do not witness the seven rounds taken by the couple solemnizing the marriage. So we came back to the house at 3 am," said Rajvati, Rahul's mother.

After retiring to their house, Anjali and Aditi decided to sleep at the first floor, while three-four other women slept at the ground floor. Around 4 am, a fire broke out from the air conditioner located at the ground floor, which spread to the curtains and the wooden doors. By the time anyone could wake up, the compressor of the air conditioner exploded.

A neighbour of the family, Harsh, barged inside the house and saved Tavishka.

The residents, carrying water buckets, tried to douse the fire, while fire tenders and police were also called to the spot.

Within 30 minutes, the residents doused the fire and found the charred bodies of the two women.

Many who were at the wedding function got to know about the incident by 6 am, after which they rushed to the family home.

"They were all happy and dancing around the house, and now we are carrying their dead bodies," said Prince Gupta, a family friend.

A case under section 336, 337, 304 (A) of IPC has been registered.