Three charred to death in Ghaziabad apartment

A Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) supervisor, his wife and his brother were charred to death at their apartment in Ghaziabad's Pratap Vihar, fire department officials said on Wednesday.

It seems a room heater wire came in contact with the metal bed, triggering the fire, they said.

The deceased has been identified as Bachchoo Singh (48), a native of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, his wife Rani (45) and his differently abled brother Narayan (40).

Singh had two sons -- Gulshan (22) and Pratham (16) -- and a daughter Rakhi (17), who were out of station when the fire took place.

"All three members present (in the flat) were charred to death. The entire room had turned to ashes," Chief Fire Officer Sunil Kumar said.

City magistrate Shiv Prakash Shukla has been appointed to probe the cause of fire which took place in the ten-storey building of GDA in sector 11 of Pratap Vihar.

"The report of the magisterial inquiry would be submitted to the chief minister's office within four days after which further action would be initiated," District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told PTI.

"It has come to my knowledge that flats had not been allotted to anybody by GDA. Despite this, the supervisor was staying in the flat along with his family for a long time.

"Action would be initiated after the inquiry. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognizance of the case and has instructed me to give an ex-gratia amount to his three children, who were out of station due to some reason," Pandey added.

The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post mortem, he added.