Hours after a fire broke out at the Sanskriti Coaching Centre in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar area that left 61 students injured, scores of students from various coaching centres staged a protest and blocked the road, raising slogans and holding posters demanding justice.
Out of the 61 students admitted to hospitals, 50 have been discharged while the remaining 11 are still under treatment.
Chanting ‘Vande Mataram’, scores of students, who are preparing for UPSC, SSC and other competitive examinations, sat on the road demanding justice.
A senior police officer said that they have tried to pacify the students and asked them not to block roads, assuring them that suitable action will be initiated against the culprits.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Sanskriti Coaching Centre, Shivesh Mishra, claimed that the fire did not break out inside the coaching centre.
“It is being reported that there was a blast in the metre box on the ground floor, and the smoke went up from below. During the incident, the students got scared. All of them have been rescued. Some students attempted to escape with the help of wires. Two of them have been seriously injured,” Mishra said.
Sharing the details about the incident, the officer said that a PCR call was received at the Mukherjee Nagar police station regarding fire inside the Bhandari House building near Batra Complex, following which a police team was rushed to the spot.
“The rescue work commenced immediately. About 10 fire tenders and 16 CAT ambulances also reached there,” said the officer.
“The fire was extinguished and the students from the first and second floors were rescued,” he said.
“The place of occurrence was inspected and photographed by the district crime team. The place of occurrence was also inspected by the forensic team from Rohini. Around 200-250 students of different coaching centres were attending classes at the time of incident,” said the officer.
As per the police, the preliminary inquiry revealed that there was fire in the electric meters installed on the ground floor of the building.
“A case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered,” the officer added.
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