Seven days after a massive fire engulfed a factory in Saki Naka, a 42-year-old man is still missing. Pratap Thakkar’s family and the police are puzzled over his disappearance. The family has now put up a poster on the gate of the factory’s compound stating that Mr. Thakkar has been missing since the fire on December 27.
The Saki Naka police said Mr. Thakkar’s last mobile location was in the factory. They also said CCTV footage showed that he had entered the premises. “The CCTV footage does not show him coming out. But there is a back gate to the compound as well and he may have walked out through that,” Ankit Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone X, said.
Mr. Thakkar’s relatives said they are hopeful to get some positive news. “The rescue operation is over and fire brigade officials did not find him. We are hoping that he has escaped the blaze,” one relative said.
The fire, that was declared level 4 by the fire brigade, killed two people — Aarti Jaiswal (25) and Piyush Pitadia (42) — who succumbed to burn injuries and smoke inhalation. It took fire officials over 15 fire tenders and more than six hours to douse the flames.
The Saki Naka police had arrested four people from the factory in connection with the mishandling of inflammable paint substances which were stored in the factory’s godown without safety measures.
As many as 35 small factories were affected by the fire. One of the factory owners who lost material worth over ₹80,000 was in tears when he visited the premises on Friday. “The fire has destroyed everything,” he said.
