Telangana youth charred in Saidapet apartment blaze

CHENNAI: A 23-year-old from Telangana staying at a Saidapet apartment was charred after a fire broke out in his room in the early hours of Sunday.

Police recovered the body of S Bharadwaj, who had had come to the city on a work assignment from Germany where he was employed as a mechanical engineer. Police ruled out foul play and are investigating the cause of the fire.

The blaze that broke out in the four-storied Mount Kailash apartment in Abdul Razack First Street was visible 2km away. The first and fourth floor of the apartment were reserved for residents and the second and third were serviced apartments.

At 5.30am, Saravanan, a neighbour, noticed a blaze in a room on the third floor. The fire station was informed and in half an hour a fire engine from Saidapet reached the spot. Firefighters battled for nearly an hour to put out the fire. They were joined by another fire tender from Teynampet and the blaze was finally quelled at 10am.

“All the furniture in the house was completely gutted. The hotel staff tried to rescue the boy soon after they noticed the smoke but in vain. They evacuated all five families from the other apartments on the same floor,” said a fire and rescue services personnel.

A few staffers broke open a door that was latched from the inside when the fire started to spread to other rooms.

Police sources said that Bharadwaj had asked the receptionist permission to smoke two days ago and his request was rejected.

“They had warned him not to smoke in the room after they found cigarettes butts there every day when cleaning the room,” said an investigating officer.

Police traced the family of the deceased with the help of the driving license he had submitted at the serviced apartment.

Investigations revealed that he had told his parents who were in Germany that he was at his friend’s house in the same country. His father Siranjeevi told the police that he had no idea when his son landed in India.

“We found a cigarette butt near the bed. We suspect him to have taken liquor and dozed off without putting out the cigarette, which could have caused the fire,” the officer added.

The body was sent to the Royapettah Government Hospital and a postmortem will be conducted on Monday.