Three men were charred to death in a freak accident, on Thursday evening, when their car parked on the roadside outside a hotel in Sector 61 suddenly went up in flames.
Eyewitnesses informed the police and also tried to break the window glass of the car to pull the men out, but it was all over in less than 10 minutes. “The flames engulfed the car within minutes, and the police and the eyewitnesses had little opportunity,” said Station House Officer, Badshahpur, Rajender Kumar.
The deceased, all residents of Padla village, have been identified as Narender, 28, Gajender, 38, and Devender, 38. The bodies were handed over to the families after conducting post-mortem on Friday afternoon.
Liquor could be cause
The police suspect that the three were consuming liquor inside the car with its air-conditioner running and had probably passed out before the fire broke out.
“Two of the bodies were found on the rear seat and one on the driver’s seat. It seems the duo on the rear seat was passed out and did not make any efforts to escape when the fire broke out.
However, the one on the front seat was probably conscious and seemed to make an attempt of escaping. The fire started from the engine and soon engulfed the entire car,” said investigation officer, assistant sub-inspector Munshi. Gajender’s uncle Mahender Singh said that the trio left the village around 4 p.m. on Thursday and bought liquor from a neighbouring village before proceeding to Gurugram.
“It is difficult to say as to how the fire broke out. Some electricians fixing a fault on an electric pole noticed the flames around 10 p.m. and rushed to the spot. They tried to break the window glass and also threw sand to douse the flames, but the fire was of high intensity. Police and a fire brigade team also reached the spot, but it was all over by then,” said Mr. Singh, a retired havaldar from the Indian Army. Gajender, who is survived by his wife and two children, was in the business of making signboards.
The car belonged to Devender, who had large land holdings. The police could reach the family of Devender with the help of the registration number of the car.
The family of Narender, a daily-wager, got the news in the morning. “Narender’s family lives on the outskirts of the village and does not have a mobile phone. They got to know about his death in the morning,” said Narender’s uncle Jile Singh, who had come to claim the body at the mortuary. Narender’s father Leelu Ram said that his son had got married just six months ago.
Both, Gajender and Narender, were sole bread winners of their family. The police have ruled out foul play and no case has been registered.