Overview
- Two young siblings, Arjun, 5, and Asha, 3, died after a fire swept a labour shed in K. Narayanapura near Kothanur on Monday afternoon, with one child dying at the scene and the other at a hospital.
- After site checks by the Scene of Crime team and the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, investigators ruled out an electrical fault and pointed to old clothes, mosquito nets, and other easily ignited items inside the shed.
- Police said a flame used by labourers behind the structure may have spread into the vacant shed, where the children were playing, though the exact ignition point remains under investigation.
- The children’s parents had left for work that morning and the grandmother, who was caring for them, had briefly stepped away when the pair entered the empty shed, according to police.
- Officers suspect the children died from smoke inhalation caused by dense fumes from burning clothes, a case of unnatural death has been registered, and postmortems are being conducted at Dr B. R. Ambedkar Medical College Hospital.