The Capital witnessed two incidents in which a WagonR and a Maruti 800 caught fire, becoming death traps for their owners.
In the first case — reported from Outer Delhi’s Prashant Vihar area — the fire began with a short-circuit. The second, in West Delhi’s Kanhaiya Nagar, took place because the petrol tank caught fire.
In both cases, the men trapped inside were charred beyond recognition. And it took the police, fire and forensic officials long to retrieve the bodies.
In the Rohini case, 36-year-old Roopender Singh Bhatia had parked the car in front of the Regional Transport Office in Sector 15.
His air conditioner was switched on and he was reclining on the driver’s seat. Police and forensic officials said around 11.30 am, a short-circuit must have occurred in the vehicle’s air conditioner. The blaze spread “within a fraction of a second”.
Bhatia got trapped inside, probably due to the car’s central locking system, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), Chhaya Sharma. “A constable, Dharmender, who was out on his beat, told us the man was struggling to get out. By the time he reached, the man was dead.”
By the time fire officials doused the flames, Bhatia was charred beyond recognition. The car’s CNG cylinder and engine were found intact, only the interiors had burnt.
Police recovered a driving licence, which belonged to Bhatia’s wife, Simrat Kaur. Since the body was unrecognisable, they thought it was Kaur herself. They realised their mistake when they called up the house.
Two cars catch fire, drivers locked in, die
