Mumbai: 16-year-old girl dies in minor fire in Dadar

The fire did not injure anyone else. (Right) Shravani Ashok Chavan was alone at home when the incident took place. Pics/Ashish Raje

A 16-year-old girl, Shravani Ashok Chavan, died in a fire that broke out in a room on the third floor of a five-storey building inside the Dadar police station compound at around 1:30 pm on Sunday. While the police have registered a case of accidental death, they are looking into the possibility of her death being a suicide after witnesses at the spot mentioned that she may have self-immolated.

Some fire officials too suspected it to be the case. "We have seen such cases before. Only one person died and there were no other injuries. There is a chance that she may have set herself on fire. But we can only know for sure once the police have conducted their investigation," said the official.

Chavan resided on the third floor of the building located in the Dadar police colony

Police officials said that the girl's father, Ashok Chavan, is an official at the Vakola police station. Sunil Sahdev Gavkar, Divisional Assistant Commissioner of Police, said, that at this moment it was premature to say whether she committed suicide, "but we are considering the possibility. No suicide note was found since the house had burnt down. The forensic team has taken samples from the spot and they will test them to ascertain whether kerosene was the cause of fire.

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Sources said that the girl was alone at home and apparently her parents had locked her inside the house before going to a wedding. When the fire broke out, neighbours and fire officials had broken open the door.

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