TV child actor, brother killed in house fire in Raj’s Kota

Kota: Eight-year-old television actor Veer Sharma, who played Pushkal in SonySAB’s ‘Shrimad Ramayan’, and his brother died allegedly due to suffocation after a fire broke out at their home in Rajasthan’s Kota.

Police said Veer and his brother Shoriya Sharma (16), an engineering aspirant, were alone at home when the fire erupted.

Their father Jitendra Sharma, who teaches at a coaching centre, was attending a bhajan event and mother actor Rita Sharma was in Mumbai at the time of the incident that happened at around 2 am on Sunday, they said.

Kota (city) SP Tejeshwani Goutam, who visited the spot on Sunday morning, said a short-circuit is suspected to have caused the blaze.

The fire broke out in the drawing room of the flat and the children, who were sleeping, most likely died of suffocation caused by smoke, as fire did not spread to other rooms, the SP said.

Circle Inspector Bhupendra Singh said the incident took place at a flat on the fourth floor of Deepshree building under Anantpura police station area at around 2 am.

When the neighbours noticed plumes of smoke coming out of the flat, they broke open the door and found the children in an unconscious state, he said.

The neighbours immediately informed the father and rushed the boys to the hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead, the officer added.

A neighbour said they extinguished the blaze using fire-extinguishers placed in the building and no fire tender was called to control the fire.

According to the police, the drawing room was charred and the furniture reduced to ashes.

The bodies were handed over to family members after the arrival of their mother from Mumbai, they said.