3 charred to death as man sets building on fire in Palam

A 52-year-old man, who wanted to take revenge on his estranged wife, today set the building on fire in which she lived killing the woman's mother along with a father-son duo in Palam area here.
A total of 23 persons were found stuck in the building many of whom were tenants. Some of them jumped to balconies of neighbouring buildings. Eight persons who sustained burn injuries were taken to two hospitals, Bhagat Chandra and DDU.
The accused Anil Kumar has been arrested, police said.
Kumar was held after the police scanned the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity of the house. He was seen setting vehicles parked on the ground floor of the house on fire in the camera footage.

Kumar, a driver hailing from Haryana, was married to Mamta who lived on the ground floor of the building. He had been living in the same area after parting ways with his wife and two daughters.
Those killed have been identified as Mamta's 65-year-old mother Kailash Rana, Jagdeep (32) and his one-year-old boy Akshay.

Jagdeep lived with his wife and son on the second floor and worked as a medical representative. Mamata was also injured in the fire.
The three-storeyed building has a basement which served as a parking lot. The building had six flats most of which were occupied by tenants.

"Nine motorcycles and two cars were gutted in the incident as Anil Kumar had set them on fire using petrol. As Jagdeep rushed to the stairs he found that the only escape route was blocked due to fire. He was holding his son in the arms and when he tried to turn back, he slipped and both of them fell into the inferno," said a fire official.
Eight persons, including a fire officer were injured in the incident. Many of them who escaped the fire suffered fractures as they jumped off from balconies in a desperate bid to survive.
Crime team and a team of CFSL experts were called on the spot," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Suman Goyal.