Car blaze deaths: Cops slap notice on Maruti Suzuki

BENGALURU: After the Forensic Sciences Laboratory indicated that technical glitches may have ignited the accidental fire inside a Maruti Ritz car in February this year, police have issued a notice to Maruti Suzuki India’s manufacturing facility in Gurgaon, seeking their response to the FSL report. The blaze killed a homemaker and her four-year-old son, Confirming the development, a senior police officer said they will wait for a fortnight and file the chargesheet in the case, stating a reply from the management of Maruti Suzuki in the matter is pending.

On February 3, Neha Verma, 30, accompanied by her infant son, Param, was parking her Maruti Ritz in the basement of their apartment in Nallurahalli, Whitefield, when the fire broke out. They both were found dead in sitting position and doctors had opined that they had suffocated to death rather than succumbing to burns.

The FSL, based on the samples received, sent a report to police, stating the “fire started due to an electrical short circuit in the car”. However, it does not pinpoint the part of the car where the fire originated and how it actually happened. The car was manufactured in 2009.

“We have sought another report from the FSL and we will soon know from where the fire originated. The gutted vehicle is being tested at the chemical lab of FSL,” an investigating officer said. Neha, who is from Indore, was married to startup entrepreneur Rajesh Kumar, who is from Belagavi. Rajesh, who runs a firm in Diamond District on Old Airport Road, had shifted to the city four years ago. Param was their only child.