Death toll rises to 22 in Delhi's Hauz Rani fire as 39-year-old Nigerian dies

THe dying toll of the go off at an illegal bed-and-breakfast (B&B) at Hauz ranee has risen after another strange subject succumbed to their injuries, police said on Sunday. This also takes the number of foreign nationals killed to 13.“The foreign national passed away late Saturday night. The death toll now stands at 22,” said deputy commissioner of police (south) Anant Mittal. The victim, who had been critically injured, was undergoing treatment at a south Delhi hospital.A police officer, who asked not to be named, said that the victim was a 39-year-old man from Nigeria.A total of 49 injured guests were evacuated from the Flourish Stay B&B after a fire erupted around 8:30 am on Wednesday. Of them, 21 were declared brought dead at the hospitals they were rushed to, while 28 were undergoing treatment. At least eight of the injured people were on ventilator support. Ten policemen were also injured during the search and rescue operations.On Sunday, as the investigation into the incident continued, investigators took the 65-year-old cook, Keshav Negi, who was arrested in the case on Saturday, to the B&B facility for a scene recreation with the help of forensic experts and the crime scene investigation team, the officers said.On the officials' directions, Negi showed them the place in the ground-floor kitchen where he was cooking when the fire started. While Negi claimed the fire started in the kitchen, his counsel told the court on Saturday that it was caused by an electrical short circuit elsewhere in the building. Negi also showed the officials the place on the ground floor where the reception, waiting and eating areas were, the officers said.“The teams remained at the facility with Negi for nearly 35 minutes before leaving the place,” said an officer, who asked not to be named, adding Negi was arrested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.Another officer said that Negi’s interrogation revealed that he was not the only staffer present at the B&B, but at least five others, including the manager, Rupesh, also fled as the fire broke out. While Rupesh, who is a key suspect in the case, has been absconding since he fled the facility after the fire broke out, the other four staffers have been questioned.Another key accused, Jay Mishra, who was listed as the owner of the B&B on the licence issued by the Delhi government’s tourism department, is still at large as of Sunday evening. Officers said the interrogation of Mishra and Rupesh is crucial to establish the violation of rules and criminality in the case, apart from fixing the responsibility for the deadly tragedy, the officer said.“Teams are conducting raids in Delhi, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, and many places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal to nab Mishra and Rupesh. They have switched off their mobile phones. Mishra’s house in Rajpur Khurd near Mehrauli in Delhi was also raided, but he was not found there.The four other staffers we questioned claimed they fled because they panicked after seeing the blaze and feared for their lives. Nobody has been given a clean chit yet,” said the second officer, requesting anonymity.According to the officer, local enquiries suggested that Mishra was not present at the facility when the fire broke out.However, investigators want to establish it and his exact location at the time of the incident through his interrogation and technical probe. The owner of the building, Lavkesh Bajaj, who was arrested on Wednesday evening, told the investigators that it was Mishra who had been handling all the day-to-day operations of the business on his behalf.Police said Negi disclosed that the restaurant on the premises — Snacks and Bites — offered a full menu of cooked food items and drinks, with a seating capacity of 30 people.