A female MBBS pass out from Bihar was charred to death in the hostel room of a private medical institute in Bareilly late Thursday night.
Another medical intern sharing room with her was also injured while trying to rescue her and had to be hospitalised.
Later, the medical institute authorities said that the incident was caused due to a spark in the room heater that sparked a fire.
A case was registered and the body was sent for autopsy. Police are investigating the case.
As per reports, Dr Sukriti Sharma of Patna was an intern at SRMS Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhojipura area of Bareilly. After noticing smoke billowing out of a hostel room, the hostel authorities called the fire brigade.
However, by the time the fire-fighters doused the flame, the entire building was badly burnt and the charred remains of the doctor were found in room number 302.
While Dr Sharma died in the incident, her room mate Ritika suffered serious burns while rescuing her.
While the family of the deceased was intimated about the tragedy, what caused the fire and the death of Dr Sharma is yet to be ascertained. Preliminary investigation suggested that a spark in the room heater triggered the fire.
Speaking to reporters, SRMS Institute of Medical Sciences’ principal Dr SB Gupta said, “There was a room heater in hostel room of Sukirti which might have caused the fire. When smoke was spotted from the room, college authorities were informed, who in turn informed fire brigade and police. But by the time the fire was doused, the doctor had died.”
Soon after the incident, senior police officials including SP (Rural) Dr Sansar Singh reached the spot and a forensic team was pressed into service for investigation.
Meanwhile in Bhadohi, an 18 year-old newly-wed woman was kept hostage and raped for five days by a neighbour, identified as Vishal Saroj. Saroj had come to the house of the woman’s in-laws’ five days ago and taken her away on the pretext that the mother of the newly-wed was ill. Only on Wednesday, when the in-laws went to enquire about the health of the victim’s mother that they realised that the woman had not reached her home. Later, they informed the police after which she was rescued from a room situated in an agricultural field owned by Saroj on Thursday.
A case was registered, the accused was arrested and the woman was sent for medical examination.
Meanwhile in Jaunpur, three unidentified persons were booked for threatening a foreign couple in Barsathi area on Thursday.
SP of Jaunpur, Ashok Kumar, said that Timothy and his wife Dugga had come from Germany and were on way to Rishikesh from Varanasi in a car on January 16. As they reached Saraivikram railway crossing in Suhklalganj, three unidentified persons bullied them. Upon resistance, the miscreants beat up Timothy and when the car driver tried to speed away, they broke the window pane of the car with bricks.
The SP said that the couple somehow managed to escape and complained to Madiyahun police station after which a case was registered.
The police are identifying the bullies and claimed that they would be arrested soon.