Geeta Devi, the last victim to be identified in the Mundka fire tragedy, which claimed 27 lives, was cremated in the Capital by her relatives on Wednesday.
Only eight of the 27 deceased were identified immediately after the incident, which took place on May 13. The Delhi police subsequently collected biological samples of the people, whose family members were believed to have died in the fire, for DNA profiling.
Over the next few weeks, the police, with the help of DNA samples, were able to establish the identities of all the deceased. Geeta was the last to be identified.
DCP (Outer) Sameer Sharma said the last rites of Geeta were performed at a cremation ground in north-west Delhi’s Sultanpuri area.
He added that it was difficult to establish her identity as Geeta did not have any immediate family members whose DNA could be matched with hers. Her husband had died in 2019 and the couple did not have any children.
The police subsequently traced her extended family members in Bihar, whose DNA samples matched Geeta’s and who performed her final rites on Wednesday.
Mantu Kumar one of the victim’s relatives who arrived in Delhi from Bihar, said Geeta had joined the company in Mundka just 20 days before the incident.
On May 18 The Hindu had spoken to 29-year-old Avinash, one of the occupants of the building, who had managed to escape the fire with minor injuries. Avinash said that while he had managed to get out by climbing down a rope, Geeta had not been able to do the same.
