RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Jan 20: A 19-year-old man, Damodar Lohra was charred to death while another sustained severe burn injuries after a fire broke out in the outhouse of Krishna Apartment situated under Bariatu police station area in the Jharkhand capital late last night.
Notably, a team of forensic experts has started a probe.
The officer-in-charge of Bariatu police station Gyan Ranjan informed this saying prima facie, the reason behind the fire appears to be a short circuit but the scientific reason behind the short circuit is required to be probed and thus FSL team was requisitioned and pressed into service.
The deceased was a resident of Sonahatu who used to work as a spray worker for Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC). The injured person is Amar Tigga, a resident of the Ratu area.
A local resident said Lohra lived with his cousin Manoj in the outhouse of Krishna Apartment. On Thursday night around 10:30, his friend Amar Tigga had come to meet him. After half an hour, suddenly the sound of screaming and shouting started coming from the outhouse.
When the people living nearby reached the spot, the resident said, they saw that the room where Damodar and Amar were staying was filled with smoke.
“Damodar’s dead body was lying on the ground whereas Amar was suffering from severe burns. In a hurry, the matter was informed to the Bariatu police, after which an ambulance was called and Amar was sent to RIMS for treatment,” the resident said.
A police official said that though it will be too early to give any conclusive statement on the matter it is suspected that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the heater installed in the room.
“Perhaps he would have used a heater to beat the cold,” the police official said.
