Delhi: Six people die of suffocation due to burning fireplace

Six people died of suffocation while sleeping by a burning fireplace in two separate incidents in the national capital on Sunday. The first case was reported from Kheda Kalan village in Outer North Delhi, where a husband, wife, and two children suffocated after lighting a fireplace. In the Indrapuri area, two youths died similarly due to suffocation while sleeping.
Additional DCP B Bharat Reddy of Outer Delhi stated, “Today at 6:40 am, a PCR call was received that four people were lying unconscious inside the house in Kheda Kalan village. The team reached the spot, and initial investigation found that all four had died due to suffocation while sleeping by lighting a fireplace. The real cause of death will be clear in the postmortem report.” The victims in Kheda Kalan were identified as 40-year-old tanker driver Rakesh Dinkar, his 38-year-old wife Lalita Devi, and their two children Piyush (8 years old) and Sunny (7 years old). In the Indrapuri area, the deceased were identified as Abhishek and Ram Bahadur, both residents of Nepal. Lalita Devi’s sister Neelam received a call from Rakesh Dinkar at around 2 in the night, revealing that his family was unwell. Neelam suspected supernatural causes for the deaths. In both cases, the police initiated action under Section 174 of the CRPC.