Elderly couple killed in fire at Moti Nagar house, son missing

New Delhi: Tragedy struck early Friday morning when an elderly couple was charred to death in a major fire that broke out at their residence in Moti Nagar in the wee hours on Friday.

Delhi Police said that just after the incident, the couple's 40-year-old son went missing, who is reported to be mentally unstable.

The man's disappearance has made the matter complicated, with cops saying that his revelations will be vital in figuring out the sequence of events.

"The deceased have been identified as Chedi Lal, 70, and his wife, Laxmi, 62. Both sustained severe burn injuries and were declared brought dead by the hospital," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vijay Kumar said.

The fire broke out around 3.26 am in Sudarshan Park locality of Moti Nagar in west Delhi, when the couple was sleeping at their ground floor residence.

Cops further said that a tenant in the's couple's building, identified as 24-year-old Vinay, also received burn injuries and is undergoing treatment.

Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused within 30 minutes.

Once the fire broke out, the couple had very little time to get out and save themselves.

By the time helped reached the couple and the neighbours and fire tenders were alerted, they had already succumbed to their burn injuries.

The cause of fire is being investigated, with police saying that until their son is traced and he sheds light on what happened, it would not difficult to reach to a definite conclusion.

Cops have begun search operations to trace the couple's son and teams have been deployed.

"We have been looking for their son, but he could not be traced till Friday evening. Once we get him, he could tell us more about how the fire took place," the DCP said.

Meanwhile, police have registered a case and investigating is underway.

Thy are also checking footage of CCTV cameras in the area to get some clues about how the fire broke out.