JOIN US Family members of 58-year-old Pradeep Jaiswal were sleeping by locking their house on the fateful Monday night and they couldn’t find the keys of their locked door on time when the fire broke out, resulting in their deaths.
Residents of M-block of Dilshad Garden said most of them sleep by locking their houses from inside as they have been living under the fear of burglaries and theft for the last few years.
On Tuesday morning, the neighbourhood people tried to break the back door of Jaiswal’s house with hammers and rock for several minutes, but their efforts went in vain.
Only when the fire brigade arrived after 40 minutes, the door was brought down.
“We are so scared of the people from the nearby New Seemapuri jhuggis that most of us have installed central locking system for our houses. Perhaps, Mr Jaiswal’s house was also centrally locked which prevented people from outside to break in,” said Sabir Atala, a resident of M-block Dilshad Garden.
An employee of Delhi Transport Corporation, Jaiswal shifted to this house in 1989. After couple of years, he started his dry-cleaning business from the house which was running quiet well, said neighbours.
“Earlier, his wife and son used to look after the shop, but now his daughter-in-law was taking care of it. Jaiswal was due to retire in couple of months, after which he was expected to see the business full time,” said a neighbour.
According to people, the burglars target the area as most of the residents here run their commercial shops and businesses on their residential premises.
“Most of the residents have their shops and commercial businesses in their houses only. For the last six-seven years, I have seen so many burglaries of cash and equipment here that people see every outsider with suspicion,” Atala said.
“While robbing a house, the burglars first latch the door of its neighbours so that they can’t interfere even if the victims scream for help,” he added.