Mundka Fire: Victim’s Body Handed Over to Another Family ‘By Mistake,’ Say Cops

According to the police, the body was misidentified as Ranju Devi by her husband due to similar characteristics.

Mundka fire tragedy

(Photo: The Quint)

More than a month after 27 people were killed in a massive blaze that ripped through a building in Mundka, New Delhi, police on Thursday, 23 June said a victim's body was handed over to another family "by mistake".

According to the police, the body of one victim was mistakenly identified as Ranju Devi by her husband, as both had similar characteristics.

Of the 27 people that were charred to death in the fire on 13 May, police said 22 bodies have already been handed over to their respective families.

"On Wednesday, four DNA profiles were received, which we will hand over to the families concerned," a senior police officer said, adding there are five bodies at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital - Ranju Devi, Soni Kumari, Monika, Parveen and Geeta Devi.

"On 14 May, eight bodies were identified by their family members and they were handed over. The FSL reports of seven were correctly matched with the samples of the family members. However, that of Ranju Devi did not match. On Wednesday, the FSL reports were received and one of them showed that out of the five bodies, one was of Ranju," Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Sameer Sharma said.

Earlier, PTI had reported that Ranju Devi's husband Santosh Kumar had "identified" her body through her turtle-shaped ring and two bangles -- the items that remained intact on her charred body.

"I identified her through her ring and bangles -- one red and the other white. I received her body from the hospital and did all the rituals," he had said.

According to police, the body of one Geeta Devi continues to be in the hospital as her parents have passed away and she does not have a child.

Further, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been unable to find satisfactory results from the blood samples collected from her "siblings".