Fire at house in Laxmi Nagar kills elderly doctor; family blames ‘fireworks’

A 68-year-old doctor was killed when a massive fire engulfed his house in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar on Tuesday evening, police said.
The doctor’s family alleged that the blaze was caused by fireworks, which were thrown inside the house by children outside. Police officers and fire, however, stressed that they are still investigating the cause of the blaze and are yet to ascertain the reason behind the fire.
The victim was identified as Dr Bhim Sen Seth, an optometrist who ran a private practice from a clinic near his home, said additional deputy commissioner of police (east) Vineet Kumar.
“We have informed his family and inquest proceedings have been initiated,” Kumar said.
Police said that their control room received a call at 7.11pm reporting a fire at a house in Laxmi Nagar. When police reached the spot, they found that the fire had erupted on the ground floor of a four-storey residential building.
Two fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire, they said.
“It was revealed that the owner of the building, Dr Seth, was trapped inside and was taken out of the house with severe burn injuries,” an investigator familiar with the case said.
The victim was rushed to Dr Hedgewar Hospital by a police team, where doctors declared him brought dead.
“The crime team was called upon for inspection the house, while the victim’s body was shifted to the Subzi Mandi mortuary for postmortem to ascertain if the cause of death was burn injuries, suffocation or any physical fatal injury,” the officer said.
Investigators cited above said they are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Police said that the victim lived alone in his house, and is survived by his 65-year-old wife, who lives in Switzerland, his 35-year-old son in the United States, and his 27-year-old daughter, who lives in Germany.
The victim’s brother-in-law, Jugal Kishore Malhotra, also a resident of Laxmi Nagar, said that Seth lived alone. “He did not have any help as well. He used to spend most of his time in his clinic,” he said.
Malhotra alleged that locals told them that some children were bursting firecrackers outside the house and were throwing lit fireworks inside the house as a form of prank.
“He must have been sleeping inside at the time of the fire. When police and firefighters entered the house, they found that he was lying on the ground and was pinned under his almirah… We think he would have woken up and tried to escape but was unable to lift the almirah,” he said.
Investigators said that they have obtained the CCTV footage from near the house and are analysing the video to verify claims made by the family.
“The forensics team will visit the house on Wednesday to inspect the spot and subsequently, their report will ascertain the cause of fire,” the investigator said.
According to Malhotra, the fire was moderate, and locals had jumped in to douse it before fire tenders reached. It did not spread to other floors.
“His wife comes to India on certain occasions. All three family members have been informed and they are on their way for the last rites,” he said.