Overview
- A fire that began in the ground‑floor restaurant of the Flourish Stay B&B tore through the five‑storey building and killed 21 people, many of them foreign nationals, in what officials described as a fast‑moving blaze on Wednesday.
- Delhi Police have arrested owner Lavkesh (Lovkesh) Bajaj, filed an FIR including culpable homicide, and are reconstructing the sequence of events while questioning staff, witnesses and searching for other managers linked to the property.
- Investigators say the building was licensed for six rooms but ran roughly 25, had alleged unauthorised additional floors, lacked a mandatory fire NOC, and featured sealed windows and a single entry‑exit that trapped occupants.
- The Delhi government ordered a magisterial inquiry and formed a high‑powered committee to carry out city‑wide inspections, sealing of non‑compliant guesthouses, and to ensure compensation and medical support for victims and families.
- The tragedy has revived scrutiny of Delhi’s fire‑clearance rules because many low‑height buildings fall outside mandatory NOC rules, a gap officials and court directives have urged closing after earlier deadly hotel fires.