Mundka fire: Absconding building owner arrested

New Delhi, May 15: The absconding owner of a building in outer Delhi’s Mundka, where a massive fire broke out leaving 27 people dead, has been arrested two days after the incident, police said on Sunday.

Twenty-seven people, including 21 women, have died in the blaze that started on the first floor of the four-storey building on Friday.

"We have arrested the absconding building owner Manish Lakra after conducting raids in Delhi and Haryana" said Sameer Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer). Lakhra is a resident of Mundka village, he said.

Nineteen people are still missing and there was little hope of finding survivors.

A massive fire ripped through a three-storey commercial building near the Mundka metro station in west Delhi on Friday evening, leaving at least 27 people dead and 12 injured, police said. Around 60-70 people have been rescued from the building, they said, adding that some were still trapped inside.