Anguished kin of Mundka fire tragedy victims demand CBI probe

New Delhi, June 2

Anguished over not getting the bodies of their relatives who died in the massive fire that broke out in Delhi's Mundka area last month, the family members of the deceased persons on Wednesday staged protest in the national capital.

Holding placards, a total of 25-30 people assembled near the Metro Pillar No. 544, in front of Plot No. 193, Mundka, and raised the issue of delay in forensic and DNA reports due to which the process of handing over the dead bodies to the family members has been delayed.

Twenty-seven lives perished on May 13 in one of the deadliest fire tragedies that the national capital has witnessed in recent years.

"The protesters were heard patiently by the local SHO and the ACP. They were demanding CBI inquiry into the matter," Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer district), Sameer Sharma, said.

The police told the protesters that the exhibits in the case were deposited at FSL without any delay and the FSL authorities are being contacted regularly.

A senior official of the Forensic Science Laboratory was contacted over phone in the presence of the protesters who assured to expedite the FSL results at the earliest.

"The family members were told that on receipt of the FSL results regarding matching of DNA profiles of the deceased with the family members, the post-mortem of the deceased will be conducted and the bodies will be handed over to the family members," the officer said.

The reason a DNA sequencing is needed is that most of the bodies were burnt to such an extent that it became difficult to establish whether the remains were of a man or a woman.