Kushinagar, May 11 (IANS) Seven members of a family were burnt to death after a massive fire engulfed their entire house in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district.
The victims comprised four minor girls, their mother and grandparents.
While the woman and four of her daughters died on the spot, her eldest daughter (8) was rescued by the police.
The elderly couple, who were rushed to a local hospital in a critical condition, succumbed to their burn injuries during treatment.
The cause behind the fire is yet to be ascertained but locals said that the clay oven was not properly doused after preparing food.
Raging flames triggered panic among villagers, who informed firefighters.
According to locals, firefighters did not reach the spot in time.
However, Kushinagar District MagistrateRamesh Ranjan, along with SP Dhawal Jaiswal, rushed to the spot.
Senior police officials supervised the rescue operation.
Taking cognisance of the tragedy, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia for each of the deceased, which will be given to the next of kin.
He directed the officials to provide all assistance to members of the family.
According to SP Dhawal Jaiswal, an inquiry had been initiated to identify the reason behind the fire.
Officials said that the father, Shohrat, is an auto driver.
He was in the market when the incident took place.
According to Shohrat, flames trapped his family members and prevented their way out.
During investigation, it was found that Swapna is a school dropout but managed to get a degree certificate from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. Based on the fake certificate and influence of high ranking officials like Sivasankar, she secured a plush job in the IT department which was headed by Vijayan.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar to enhance vigil at the borders of the state for checking smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border. The Director General had called on the Chief Minister here on July 31.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly press conference here, said they have recovered 11.73 kg heroin, 20 kg opium, 9 kg ganja, 5.76 quintals of poppy husk, and 28,000 tablets of Pharma opioids, besides recovering Rs 20 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
Addressing a gathering here while handing over appointment letters to the newly recruited 4,358 constables in Punjab Police, the Chief Minister said the state government has conducted the entire recruitment process in a transparent and fair manner.
Amid heightened security to enter Delhi, traffic snarls were reported at the Ghaziabad, Chilla, Singhu, Faridabad and Tikri borders. Delhi Police have put barricades at all these border points and every vehicle entering the national capital city are being checked.
The accident took place late on Sunday night when Adil, 25, his pregnant wife Asma, 24, Mashkoor, 26, his wife Rukhsar, 27, Rihanna, 38, and Sultana, 35, were returning home in Mirzapur village. The van was completely damaged in the collision.
