New Delhi: What was till a day ago the bustling residence of the Guptas in Sangam Vihar’s Tigri Extension-1 stood gutted on Sunday morning.One of the four victims of Saturday’s deadly blaze that tore through the four-storey building was Satender Gupta (38), who owned the property and ran a small footwear shop on the ground floor. His mother, Mithilesh, who had been sitting near the entrance of the shop, managed to narrowly escape. Outside the charred structure on Sunday morning, Mithilesh bitterly wept for her son, “Jimmy,” as the family lovingly called Satender. She tightly hugged her daughter-in-law, Priyanka, who appeared in deep shock, unable to speak, and lost consciousness repeatedly. Priyanka had just returned with her sons, four-year-old Ronak and seven-year-old Anmol, from tuitions when they found the building on fire. Locals recalled how all three of them ran towards their house in a desperate attempt to save Satender. They had to be held back.While Satender managed to come out, he was seen going in a few moments later. “We don’t know why he went back. Maybe it was to rescue someone or to save something. But he never returned,” a relative said. A shell-shocked Gitender, Satender’s younger brother, recalled how the family had celebrated their joint birthdays on Friday. “Who could have imagined that things would end like this just hours later?” he said, tearing up. Anita, 40, a long-time tenant of the Guptas, was considered part of the family having grown close to them over the years. She lived with her 19-year-old son, who was not at home at the time of the incident. Anita’s sister, Mamta, who was visiting her, survived by jumping from the building, but Anita perished.A neighbour, Pramod Gupta (62), recalled how the locals slowly pulled down Mamta who was hanging onto a saree. “After rappelling down, she jumped from the first floor,” he said, adding, “she acted bravely as the flames were dangerously close to her”. Mamta was hospitalised with 25% burn injury and fractures in her legs. Satender’s mother, who lovingly called Anita Manju, cried, “Manju bhi chali gayi. Kya hi bacha hai? (Manju is also gone. What’s left in life?)”Police are conducting a DNA test to analyse the remains of two charred bodies and have registered a case under sections pertaining to death by negligence.Some of the locals claimed there was petrol stored in the house, which might have fuelled the fire. Relatives of the Guptas, though, said a short circuit could have sparked the blaze. Neighbours said 10 to 12 people were inside the building last evening. By the time police and firefighters reached the spot, they had started rescuing those trapped. “They used wooden ladders to evacuate three to four people from my terrace, one by one,” Kamal (56), a neighbour, said. A 23-year-old man claimed that he was one of those who pulled out some of the survivors, including children, from Satender’s shop. They tried dousing the blaze with water, but it had by then engulfed the entire building.
