Man burned to death after air conditioner bursts in flames in Gurugram

A 37-year-old man was charred to death after a fire broke out in the air conditioner in his bedroom causing an explosion at Shri Ram Enclave in Bhondsi, police said on Friday.
The deceased man was identified as Sanjay Kumar of Kankroli, Bhiwani, who worked as a medical staff in a private hospital in the city. Police said that the incident took place between midnight and 1am on Friday. The matter came to light when one of his neighbours saw smoke coming from the house.
It seems that by the time neighbours came to know about the fire, Kumar had already died, said inspector Naresh Kumar, station house officer of the Bhondsi police station. “Neighbours evacuated their houses as a precautionary measure. After firefighters reached the spot and doused the blaze, they retrieved the charred body. The deceased probably didn’t get a chance to save himself as his charred body was found lying over the burned bed,” he added.
“He was alone in the house at the time. His wife and minor son had gone to her parental house in Sonipat two days ago,” he added. The deceased’s wife works in a private hospital in Sector 51.
Devender Kumar, fire officer of Sohna fire station, said that soot and fire had damaged the entire house but the room in which Kumar’s body was found was the most affected.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire began from a short circuit in the air conditioner above the bed and it had exploded. The fire later engulfed the mattress, bed and the room,” he said.
He added that some neighbours had turned on their borewell pumping sets and controlled the fire before a fire tender reached the spot.
Uday Rana, the deceased’s neighbour, said another neighbour raised the alarm at 12.45am. “At least 12-15 men gathered outside the house. We used our borewell pumping sets and took the pipes inside the burning house through the stairs. The high-pressure water helped us put out the fire but we could not save Kumar,” he said.
Police said that an inquiry under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was being carried out in the case. The body was handed over to the family after an autopsy on Friday.