NEW DELHI: A 32-year-old businessman was charred to death when his Maruti car caught fire on DND flyover in South Delhi on Thursday.

According to the police, the incident took place around 5 p.m. when the car was going towards Noida from Ashram. The driver apparently lost control and the car came to a halt after hitting the crash barrier. Within seconds it caught fire. Noticing fumes emanating from the vehicle, some passers-by ran towards it to rescue the driver. People working in nearby fields also rushed to the spot, threw soil on the vehicle to put out the blaze. The fire soon engulfed the entire vehicle and a small explosion scared the people away. According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the car had died before the fire tenders reached the spot.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi) Anil Shukla said forensic scientists would collect samples from the vehicle and they would investigate the reason for the incident. "We cannot say anything about the cause of fire at this juncture," he said, adding that the vehicle involved was a 1998 model.

The deceased was later identified as Kamaljeet, a resident of Shahdara in North-East Delhi. He dealt in gift-paper wrappings. Married for the past three years, Kamaljeet has two children.

Only this past week, another driver was charred to death when his vehicle caught fire after a Tata-407 truck coming from the wrong carriageway rammed into it head-on on DND flyover.

In a similar incident, a newly engaged couple and their woman friend were charred to death in their Fiat Palio when it caught fire after a brick-laden truck driven down the wrong carriageway hit it at Malviya Nagar in South Delhi this February.

Sumit Tewari, who worked for a private firm, his fiancée Mamta and their friend Jahanvi Roy were returning in the car from a family get-together when tragedy struck.

A report later submitted to the police by the Rohini Forensic Science Laboratory indicated that the vehicle had caught fire following a short-circuit in the battery wire due to the impact of the collision.

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