Mumbai: 16-year-old killed in fire after parents lock room to ensure she studies

Mumbai, May 14: A 16-year-old girl was killed in a fire after she was locked in her one-room flat by her parents who had gone out to attend a wedding, in Mumbai's Dadar (West) on Sunday, police said.

The police identified the girl as Shravani Chavan, who lived with her parents in the building at Saitan Chowki Police Colony. The victim, was sleeping inside a room in the apartment and was unable to come out to safety when the fire engulfed the premises because her parents had locked her room from the outside so that she would study.

The blaze erupted around 1.45 pm in one of the quarters on the third floor of the five-storey building located in the police station compound, an official at Dadar police station said.

According to a Mumbai Fire Brigade official, the fire started in flat number 37 - Chavan's home. An official, who was part of the fire fighting operation, said, "The fire spread to the electric wiring among other things. When we reached there, we found that the flat was locked. Fire had also spread to two other flats - 36 and 38. Both were locked at the time of the incident. The cause of fire will be ascertained after investigation."

No other casualties were reported in the blaze, the cause of which is not yet known.

The Mumbai fire brigade, however, found an empty water bottle smelling of kerosene near the body.