South Delhi fire: LOC issued against owner; booked in 2024 for CCTV violations
Luv Kesh Bajaj, who is 60 years old, runs a chain of hotels and guest houses across Delhi
An FIR has been registered under the section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against unknown persons. (ANI Video Grab) Delhi Police have issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) for accused South Delhi hotel owner Luv Kesh Bajaj, who is on the run after a blaze at Flourish Stay B&B in Malviya Nagar left 21 people dead.
Police said Bajaj, who is 60 years old, runs a chain of hotels and guest houses across Delhi. He lives in Saket with his wife; his two children are in the US. Police sources claimed that he was also booked in 2024, under Section 188 (violation of prohibitory orders) of the IPC, for not following security norms of installing CCTV cameras in the hotel premises.
An FIR has been registered under the section of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against unknown persons.
Among the 21 who were killed, 11 are foreign nationals and 10 are Indians. Police said the foreigners belonged to Liberia, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Bangladesh. Several were medical tourists who were in India for treatment, or were accompanying patients.
The B&B is located in a narrow lane in Hauz Rani, diagonally across the street from Max hospital in Saket. Senior police officers said there were 26 rooms in the establishment, more than four times the permitted number of six. Most or all rooms were believed to have been occupied.
The building had only one entry and exit. It allegedly did not have a No-Objection Certificate from the Fire Department. It comprised a basement and five floors. The restaurant was on the first floor and the kitchen in the basement. The other floors had rooms.
The fire appears to have started around 8.30 am in the kitchen in the basement, and climbed rapidly to the upper floors.
The injured were admitted to Max, Saket, AIIMS Trauma Centre, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital in Malviya Nagar.
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