Shubham Dixit (27), the accused, allegedly torched a vehicle which belonged to a woman who had spurned him, police said.
A case was registered against a 27-year-old man late Saturday night for allegedly causing a devastating fire at a three-storey building in Vijay Nagar locality in Indore city which claimed seven lives, police said.
Shubham Dixit (27), the accused, allegedly torched a vehicle which belonged to a woman who had spurned him, police said.
After he set fire to the vehicle in the building’s parking area early Saturday morning, the flames spread and engulfed the building, said a police official, adding that police have launched a manhunt for Dixit.
Earlier, the police had said the fire started due to a short circuit on the ground floor. Citing eyewitnesses, Vijay Nagar police station’s inspector Tehzeeb Qazi had said a short circuit in the electric meter triggered the fire which soon engulfed the vehicles in the parking area before spreading to the floors above.
Eyewitnesses alleged that fire brigade personnel arrived late on the spot.
Some residents even jumped off the balconies of their flats or the terrace and saved themselves, though they received injuries in the process.
Expressing grief over the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered a probe into it and announced an ex-gratia of ₹ 4 lakh to the next kin of each deceased. The blaze erupted between 3 am and 4 am in the building located in Vijay Nagar’s congested Swarna Bagh Colony area which has narrow approach lanes, officials said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sampat Upadhyay said that a couple, Ishwar Singh Sisodia and his wife Neetu Sisodia, were among the seven killed in the fire.
The couple lived in a rented flat in the building as their new house was being constructed nearby, he said.
The deceased included one more woman, who has been identified as Akanksha, DCP Upadhyay said, adding that nine persons were injured in the incident.
There were several flats on the three floors of the building, which were occupied, he said.
