Kanpur: In a tragic incident, a 14-year-old girl was charred to death after a massive fire broke in the shop-cum-residence of a cloth merchant in Katik Chabutra locality in Kalinjar police area of Banda district late Wednesday night.
The deceased, identified as Khushi Gupta, could not be rescued while three other inmates of the house managed to escape unhurt.
“Khushi, daughter of cloth merchant Ramesh Gupta, got trapped on the first floor of the two-storey building and was charred to death. Her body was recovered after the flames were doused,” said Kalinjar inspector Rajiv Yadav.
Locals said they heard loud shrieks from the house of Gupta at around midnight. Sensing trouble, they rushed to the spot only to find Gupta’s cloth showroom and his first storey house engulfed in flames.
They immediately alerted the fire department and police control room. Several fire tenders were pressed into service. The fire could be controlled after exercising hard till 9am on Thursday morning.
Preliminary investigation by the fire department revealed that a short circuit in the shop triggered the fire. The police have started a probe into the matter.
Ramesh Gupta, his wife Mohini, their daughter Khushi (14) and son Aryan (10) lived in the first storey of the house near a bus stand in Katik Chabutra locality.
Ramesh, his wife and son managed to escape as soon as they noticed flames but Khushi was trapped. Later, Khushi’s charred body was recovered from the stairs of the house.
“As per family members, Khushi had probably gone inside to bring her mobile phone, when she got trapped in the fire and was charred to death,” said inspector Kalinjar further.