The death toll in the Govindpuri fire tragedy rose to four after a 50-year-old speech-impaired woman who had suffered severe burn injuries in the blaze succumbed during treatment, police said on Tuesday.
Guddi Devi was the mother of Pankaj Pandey (28), who died in the fire along with his sister Sonia (20) and their maternal grandmother Sushila Devi (70). Devi passed away on Monday while undergoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital.
The fire broke out around 2 am on June 12 in a multi-storey residential building in Tughlakabad Extension in southeast Delhi, triggering a massive rescue operation and leaving several residents trapped inside the smoke-filled structure.
With Devi’s death, four members of the same family have now lost their lives in the incident.
Police had earlier said that four people, including a 17-year-old girl, were apprehended for allegedly setting a scooter parked inside the building on fire to “teach a lesson” to a resident over a monetary dispute of around Rs 80,000.
According to investigators, Deepak, a resident of the fifth floor of the building, had allegedly taken money from the accused and failed to return it despite repeated demands.
Upset over the matter, the accused allegedly conspired to damage his scooter parked on the ground floor of the building.
“The accused intended to set the scooter on fire to pressure Deepak into settling the dispute. However, the flames spread rapidly to other parked vehicles and engulfed the building, resulting in multiple casualties,” a police officer had said.
During the investigation, police examined CCTV footage from the locality and noticed a masked girl entering the building shortly before the fire broke out. Moments later, a bright glow was seen emanating from inside the premises before she was captured leaving the spot.
The footage became a crucial lead and prompted investigators to probe the incident as a case of arson rather than an accidental fire, police said.
Subsequent investigation led to the apprehension of the minor girl, who allegedly disclosed the involvement of the other accused. Police later arrested Sarita, Niranjan (33) and Rajkumar (27), residents of Navjeevan Camp.
According to police, Niranjan and Rajkumar allegedly hatched the plan to pressure Deepak into returning the money, while the others assisted in carrying it out.
