Prayer lamp leads to fire, chars 90-yr-old
Gurgaon: A 90-year-old man died in Vatika City society on Sohna road, when a fire that started from a lamp in the prayer room engulfed his entire second floor apartment at 5am on Monday.
The victim, Phool Singh Kataria, was a relative of former Haryana sports minister Sukhbir Kataria. He sustained no burn injuries but died of asphyxiation, doctors said.
Neighbours alerted the guards when they saw smoke coming out of their flat. The guards rushed to rescue the victim’s 15-year-old grandson and servant, who were also sleeping in other rooms, but could not spot the bed-ridden victim owing to thick smoke. It took them a while to locate him. Three fire tenders took two hours to douse the fire.
The guards also informed Kataria’s son Harjit Kataria and daughter-in-law who took the victim to the nearby Park Hospital where he died of asphyxiation. “No one had any burn injuries. The victim had died of asphyxiation. He was the relative of former sports minister Sukhbir Kataria,” said inspector Vijay Kumar, SHO Sadar police station.
