3 killed in fire at hotel in Neemrana

“We received information about the incident at 3.30 am. There were 22 persons in the hotel and 18 room were occupied. Five Japanese tourists were among those rescued,” Vishnoi said.

The SDM told Newsline that a total of eight fire tenders and five water vans were rushed to the spot to bring the flames under control. Rescue operations lasted seven to eight hours until everyone was evacuated, she said.

Police said the three victims — Rahul, a resident of Udaipur, Saurabh from Faridabad and Suhashnath from Kolkata — worked in Gurgaon. All three were in Neemrana for business meetings, police said.

Saurabh and Suhashnath were staying in the same room and their bodies were found in the corridor of the sixth floor, police said.

Adarsh Aggarwal of Civil Hospital, Neemrana, said the bodies were handed over to the families on Friday evening.

However, friends and family of the deceased alleged that the three died due to the hotel’s negligence.

“My son went to Neemrana on February 12 and stayed in room number 1706. The last call I got from him was at 3.30 am. But the call got disconnected. I kept calling the hotel for two hours, but there was no response. At 5:30 am, someone at the reception answered my call and said investigation is going on,” Rahul’s father’s Bhupender Kumar said.

Kumar also alleged that when he reached the hotel, he could not find his son. He  asked staff to open the room his son was staying in. “We found Rahul lying near the bathroom. His body was completely burnt,” Kumar said.

He also accused the hotel of not having even basic fire-fighting equipment.

On the basis of Kumar’s complaint, district police has registered an FIR against the hotel owner and staff for negligence.