Exits locked from outside, 6 killed in Pune bakery blaze

SIX PEOPLE suffocated to death on Friday when a bakery caught fire at Pune’s Kondhwa. Irshad Ayub Khan, 26, Fahim Nasim Ansari, 21, Shanu Nasim Ansari, 22, Shakir Mukhtar Ansari, 23, Nazim, 25 and Feroz Ansari, 21, were sleeping when ‘Bakes N Cakes’ went up in flames. Police said that two exits of the bakery were locked from outside, leaving the six with no chance to escape. They added that the deceased, who were from Lucknow, Balrampur and Bijnor, were sleeping on the bakery’s loft. None of them received any burn injuries. Except Shanu, rest were employees of the bakery. He was visiting his brother, Fahim.

The bakery’s owner, Abdulla Mohammad Yusuf Chiniwar, 27, has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement and under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act along with his partners Mohammad Tayyab Shahid Ansari, 24, and Mohammad Munir Dawood Chiniwar, 59. Investigation officer Varsharani Patil said that the process for arresting the three was on.

Police said that the fire brigade and the owner were informed about the fire around 4.45 am. Locals tried to alert the six but there was no response.

“While we were cutting the locks, the bakery owner reached the spot and opened the locks,’’ said Pune Fire Brigade’s station officer Prakash Gore. “Firemen saw all six men clutched to each other on the loft. They might have held each other tightly in fear. It was a shocking scene.’’

Gore said that prima-facie short circuit appears to have caused the fire.

Abdulla said that they used to lock the shop to prevent thefts. “The arrangements for water and toilet and other essential things were done inside the bakery. So, we used to lock the shop daily before leaving.’’

Arul Horizon At the bakery in Pune’s Kondhwa area.