A 53-year-old man, Gordhan Panchani, died in a fire that engulfed his second-floor flat in Prabhu Krupa Apartments near Panchvati Circle in Jamnagar early on Monday morning.
Local residents alerted the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation fire department around 5:40 am. Firefighters quickly brought the blaze under control. As the apartment door was locked from the inside, the team broke it down to gain entry. Inside, they discovered household items destroyed by the fire and found Gordhan severely burned.
He was rushed to GG Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Initial investigations by the City B Division police revealed that Panchani lived alone in the apartment. His family resides in the Sadhana Colony area of Jamnagar. Police sources said the deceased was reportedly mentally disturbed.
The preliminary suspicion is that the fire may have been caused by a bidi ember falling into accumulated waste within the apartment, as the deceased was thought to have been smoking late at night. Police are also investigating the possibility of a short circuit. A Forensic Science Laboratory team has been called in to conduct further investigations at the scene to definitively determine the cause of the fire. An unnatural death has been registered under Section 194 of the BNSS.
