A 46-year-old businessman was allegedly charred to death in Noida’s Sector 119 service lane on Monday after his car caught fire, police said on Tuesday.
Police identified the victim as Rajkumar Singhal, a resident of Amrapali Platinum, Sector 119, who ran a paint shop in Char Murti, Greater Noida West.
It was not immediately clear what caused the car to catch fire and an investigation in that regard is under way. However, police have ruled out suicide or foul play. “Prima facie it was suspected to be an accident,” said Shavya Goyal, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.
A police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that, on Monday, around 6.30 pm, police control room was alerted by a local resident that a car standing on the service lane of Sector 119 near Faridabad Noida Ghaziabad (FNG) road was on fire.
“When we reached the spot, the car, a petrol variant of Tata Curvv, was standing at an isolated place, and the man was found sitting in the driver’s seat. By the time a fire tender managed to douse the flames, the man had charred to death,” the officer said.
Bystanders, he said, had tried to save him when they spotted the smoke but failed to do so.
Singhal was identified on the basis of the vehicle’s registration number. It was registered in Delhi on the name of a women. “When she was contacted, it was revealed that her husband Singhal used to drive the vehicle. Later, his employees were contacted, who said that he had left the shop in the car around 5.30 pm,” added the officer cited above.
Police are scanning CCTV cameras to track the car and its movement. There were no CCTV cameras at the incident spot. Police suspect that Singhal might have been resting in the car when the fire broke out and lost consciousness due to gas or smoke inhalation.
Singhal is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter.
A relative who did not wish to be identified said, “As always Singhal’s children were trying to reach him till 8.30 pm. But when all attempts failed, we went out to search and later police approached our home and told us about the incident. We had a last conversation with him at 5.30 pm.”