A Woman, 4 Children Found Dead in Delhi After Suffocating on Smoke From Angithi

Preliminary investigation has indicated that the deaths occurred due to lack of ventilation in the flat.

Representational image of a crime scene.

(Photo: iStock)

A 30-year-old woman and her three children were found dead from allegedly inhaling toxic fumes in their room in Shahdara's Old Seema Puri area on Wednesday, 19 January.

The youngest of the four children, aged three years, was rushed to a local hospital and also declared dead later in the day.

As per DCP (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram, the room was enveloped in the smell of smoke and an angithi (mini iron fire pit) was found at the scene.

The residents of the flat included a 35-year-old man identified as Mohit Kalia, his 30-year-old wife Radha and their four children – all below the age of eleven.

Preliminary investigation has indicated that the deaths occurred due to suffocation and lack of ventilation in the single-room flat.

'Not Ruling Out Foul Play': DCP Shahdara

The owner of the flat spoke to news agency ANI and stated, "[They] rented our flat a few days ago, never met them in person. My father knocked on their door this morning for paperwork but returned on receiving no response. Later police informed us about the incident... we've been told that husband came later."

A crime investigation team, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) officials and the fire brigade were present at the spot on Wednesday, Sathiyasundaram told The Quint.

Nishant Gupta, Additional DCP Shahdara also spoke to ANI and stated that though the cause of death is suffocation prima facie, the police is not ruling out any foul play.

"Husband being probed," Gupta said.