New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): Investigators probing the Malviya Nagar hotel fire tragedy have found that the roof exit of the building was closed at the time of the blaze, potentially cutting off a crucial escape route for occupants, sources said.
As the investigation intensifies, Delhi Police has formed a total of 10 teams, including five dedicated to tracing and apprehending absconding hotel manager Jai Mishra, while the remaining teams are handling various aspects of the probe.
According to sources, ahead of hotel owner Lavkesh Sharma’s arrest on Wednesday, the police had also initiated a Look Out Circular (LOC) against him and his wife as a precautionary measure to prevent them from leaving the country. Investigators believed Bajaj had the option of fleeing abroad, as both of his children are settled overseas. Sources further said that Bajaj is the sole owner of the building.
During the investigation, it emerged that the owner had initially started operations with a two-floor structure and later expanded the building by adding another two-and-a-half floors.
A team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) is scheduled to revisit the site on Thursday for further examination. The forensic team was able to inspect only one floor during its previous visit.
Investigators have also recovered cooking heaters and other appliances from multiple rooms. Sources said these were reportedly being used by foreign nationals staying at the hotel for extended periods.
The fire tragedy claimed multiple lives, with casualties reported among people present on the third floor and in the basement of the building. According to sources, a majority of the deaths were caused by suffocation.
Police are also searching for a key eyewitness, Kesar Singh, whose testimony is considered crucial in establishing the exact origin and sequence of events leading to the fire.
Meanwhile, out of the 12 foreign nationals who died in the Malviya Nagar fire incident, the Delhi Police has identified 9 of them.
The Delhi Police has sent the list of all these foreign nationals to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to facilitate the repatriation of their bodies back to their respective countries.
The identification of the foreign nationals was conducted on the basis of passports recovered from the spot.
The police have completed the DNA profiling of all the foreign nationals.
The DNA profiling was carried out after obtaining permission from the embassies of the respective countries.
The post-mortem examination of the bodies of all the foreign nationals was also conducted after receiving permission from their embassies. (ANI)
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