An unidentified person was charred to death after a white Maruti Swift Dzire caught fire near Ullahawas village on Sunday night.
The vehicle was found by the side of the main road, at the Behrampur tea point in Sector 59, and the deceased’s body was found in the passenger seat. Police suspect that a leakage in the CNG kit may have caused the flames.
As per police officials, the body was so severely burnt that even the gender of the deceased could not be determined. This will now only be established after the postmortem report.
According to police officials the car which has a number plate HR 66 B 7036 is registered in the name of Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Mahendergarh district.
According to sub inspector Naresh Kumar, who is in-charge of the Sector 59 police post, Rajesh had given his car to his nephew Vikram Kumar (38), who hails from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan and lived on rent at Kadarpur village. He worked as a taxi driver in NCR.
“Vikram has been missing since Saturday night and we are suspecting that the body could be his. However, this can be ascertained only once the post-mortem report comes on Monday. An FIR might be registered and investigations will be conducted once the family members arrive in Gurgaon,” Naresh said. He went on to reveal, “Since the driver was found in the passenger’s seat, we have not ruled out the possibility of malice. Although the victim could have been attempting to escape, he or she may have lost consciousness when smoke started emanating from the vehicle.”
A case has been registered under Section 174 of the criminal code procedure at the Sector 59 police post. According to the police, a security team of a real estate company, that was patrolling the area, spotted the car engulfed in flames and alerted the police and fire department.
A fire tender was rushed to the spot from the Sector 29 fire station and it took under five minutes to douse the fire, said officials from the fire department.
Incidentally, in a similar incident on September 1 last year, three men, all residents of Palra village, had been burnt to death when their car caught fire near the same spot. In this case the police had suspected that the flames had been caused by a technical glitch.
According to police personnel and officials from the fire department, the incident occurred near Ullahawas village in Sector 60, on the Golf Course Extension road. As per eyewitnesses two of the men immediately lost consciousness when smoke started emanating from the vehicle, while the man sitting in the back seat seemed to have made an effort to escape, but failed since the central locking system seemed to be jammed.
