Delhi building fire: Four held, including minor girl, for allegedly torching scooter that sparked blaze killing three

Police on Sunday apprehended four people, including a 17-year-old girl, for allegedly setting a scooter on fire over a financial dispute, an act that allegedly triggered a blaze and explosion in a residential building in southeast Delhi’s Tughlakabad Extension, killing three members of a family in the early hours of Friday.

Police said CCTV footage showed the minor entering the building with her face covered with a dupatta shortly before the blast and then quickly exiting the premises, all within a few minutes.

Police have added charges of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, attempt to commit culpable homicide, mischief by fire, and house trespass to the first information report (FIR) that was registered at the Govindpuri police station on Friday.

Investigators said the video footage helped them identify the girl and the other alleged accused, and establish that the fire was not accidental but was deliberately caused as part of a criminal conspiracy, police officers said.

The 17-year-old girl was identified and apprehended first, leading the police to a 27-year-old woman, Sarita, from Girinagar in Govindpuri. “She told us that Sarita had instigated her, providing petrol and a matchbox to set ablaze the scooty of one Deepak, a resident of the fifth floor of the building, over a monetary dispute,” deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Hemant Tiwari said, adding that Sarita was arrested.

The DCP said that after questioning Sarita, she revealed that the conspiracy was hatched at the instructions of Niranjan, 33, and his brother Rajkumar, 27, both residents of Navjeevan Camp in Govindpuri, to avenge a personal dispute.

“Accordingly, additional sections, 61 (Criminal Conspiracy), 105 (Culpable Homicide), 110 (Attempt to Culpable Homicide), 326(g) (Mischief by Fire), and 331(4) (Lurking House-Trespass by Night) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, were added to the case, and the minor girl and all three accused have been apprehended,” added DCP Tiwari.

A fire tore through the residential building in Tughlakabad Extension around 2.30am on Friday, killing 70-year-old Sushila Devi, her grandson Pankaj Pandey, 28, and granddaughter Soni, 20. Two other family members, Guddi Devi, 50, and Mani, 18, suffered serious injuries but are now stated to be out of danger, according to police.

Three women living on the top floor of the building — Mumtaz and her two sisters — were also injured.

The fire, police said, started in the ground-floor parking area where at least seven two-wheelers, including the electric scooter, were parked. Soon, smoke from the fire engulfed the entire building, trapping residents, especially those on the upper floors.

A case was registered at the Govindpuri police station under Sections 106(1) (causing death by negligence) and 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unknown persons. The tragedy has once again highlighted serious concerns about building safety in Delhi’s densely populated unauthorised and regularised colonies.

According to fire department officials, the building offered virtually no means of escape once smoke filled the structure. Built on a roughly 100-square-yard plot, it housed 10 flats, two on each floor, and lacked fire exits, ventilation systems, and firefighting equipment.