As the families of four workers killed in a fire at a shoe factory in northwest Delhi’s Mangolpuri Industrial area waited outside the mortuary at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital on Saturday (October 31, 2026), seeking answers and demanding accountability, the Delhi Police arrested two members of the factory management and registered an FIR against the owner and others in connection with the incident.
The deceased were identified as Ashok, 25, from Nalanda in Bihar; Harihar Chaurasiya, 40, a resident of Mangolpuri; Lal Babu, 38; and Prem Chand, 50. Two other workers rescued from the factory continued to receive treatment at the hospital, with one reported to be in a serious condition.
For the families, who had travelled from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the day was spent waiting for the bodies and trying to piece together the final moments of their loved ones.
Several relatives alleged that the workers had been made to put in additional hours during the festive season and demanded that the company provide financial assistance to the families who had lost their breadwinners.
According to the police, an FIR was registered at Raj Park police station under Sections 287 (Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 125(a) (Act endangering the life or personal safety of others, causing hurt), 105 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 3(5) (joint liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The two arrested persons were identified as Suresh Chand, a resident of Deepali Chowk in Pitampura, and Ashok, 47, a resident of Sector 4 in Rohini. They have been questioned, while multiple teams are working to trace other accused.
Families demand accountability
Pushpa and her husband Rajesh stood beside the body of their nephew, Harihar Chaurasiya, wrapped in a white cloth, his hands folded across his chest, showing his situation in the last moments.
Speaking to The Hindu, they recalled how he had spoken to his wife just hours before the fire, asking her to send him dinner at the factory as he planned to work an additional shift to earn some extra money ahead of the festive season.
“He said he would not be coming home for dinner. So, his 12-year-old son took food for him to the factory, not knowing that would be the last time he would see his father,” Pushpa said.
Rajesh, who worked in an adjacent building in the same factory complex, said Harihar had called him around 8.30 p.m. on Friday (October 30, 2026), asking him to join him for the night shift. “I left for my shift around 9 p.m. When I reached there, I saw fire in the basement and thick black smoke filling the ground floor and spreading towards the first floor,” he recalled.
Harihar tried to step out but could not. The smoke spread so quickly that they fell unconscious, Rajesh said.
He alerted the fire services and the factory supervisor. Fire tenders reached the premises at around 9.40 p.m. and began rescue operations.
Harihar had worked at the factory for more than 20 years and also acted as a labour contractor. He is survived by his wife, a 16-year-old daughter and two sons aged 12 and 10. Colleagues described him as a dedicated worker who “gave his all to the factory” and was almost always at work.
On Friday, he had completed a day shift that began at 9 a.m. and was preparing to work another shift from 9 p.m. to 2.30 a.m. “We do not know if he even got to eat what his wife cooked for him,” Pushpa said, breaking down.
The family now demand the factory owner to take accountability of his death and ensure that his wife and children would continue to receive his monthly salary until his children start earning. His body remained on a stretcher outside the mortuary for hours before the family was allowed to take it for the final rites.
A few metres away, Umesh Prasad moved repeatedly between the mortuary, where his nephew Ashok’s body lay, and the intensive care unit, where another relative was undergoing treatment.
Ashok, 25, from Nalanda district in Bihar, was killed shortly after speaking to his wife and two young daughters, aged two and four, over the phone. The family had been discussing Deepavali plans.
“His wife and children lived in Nalanda. On Friday, he ordered food inside the factory and was on a call with his wife and children after finishing dinner. His last words to his wife were, ‘There is a fire, I am going.’ After that, the call never connected again,” Umesh said.
Like Harihar, Ashok had made desperate attempts to escape the smoke but could not survive as it rapidly engulfed the building.
Umesh, who has worked at the factory for 26 years, said he reached the premises at around 10 p.m. on Friday for his night shift and witnessed the aftermath of the fire.
“By the time the fire and police personnel brought the bodies out, it was already 11.30 p.m., two hours after the fire. He could have been saved, but there was a delay,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, Lal Babu’s family was informed about the incident only on Saturday morning and immediately boarded a flight from Gorakhpur to Delhi. Lal Babu, who had worked at the factory for at least 15 years, lived alone in the Capital in accommodation provided by the factory.
His relatives waited outside the mortuary as the rest of the family travelled to Delhi. “The family was still on its way. They asked us to come here and wait in the meantime. They were informed about the accident only today,” a relative said.
Fire safety lapses under investigation
Division Officer (North and Outer North) Ashok Kumar Jaiswal said the storage of raw material along the staircase and the absence of adequate ventilation had severely hampered rescue efforts in the basement and G+3 building . “The biggest problem was that the staircase was stacked with raw material, leaving no space to escape. PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), adhesive, polyester and other inflammable materials worsened the situation,” he said.
When officials questioned the management about storing material in the staircase, which is against fire safety norms, they were reportedly told that the stock had been kept there for the Deepavali period because of increased demand and workload.
The official said the basement had no windows and there was only one narrow staircase connecting it to the upper floors. “No one died because of the fire, but because of asphyxiation because there was no provision for ventilation in the building,” Mr. Jaiswal said.
“According to him, five men were found in a room on the third floor and another in the staircase. The circumstances under which six people were staying inside a commercial building overnight would also be part of the investigation,” he said.
A preliminary probe suggests that the fire may have been triggered by a short circuit in the basement. Fire personnel managed to contain and douse the flames there, but the workers died of asphyxiation after smoke spread through the building.
