‘B&B’s two exits sealed to maximise profit’

The Flourish Stay bed-and-breakfast (B&B) facility at Hauz Rani, where 23 people died in a fire on June 3, had three entry/exit gates in all, but its current owner Lovkesh Bajaj permanently shut two of them—one opening into the basement from an adjacent lane and the other at the rear-end leading to the ground floor—to add more rooms while renovating it in 2022-23, police officers familiar with the case said.

- Karn Pratap Singh

They said that Bajaj, who is currently jailed, purchased the property in 2022 and added two floors to the building during the renovation.

“We learnt about the three entry and exit gates of the building through local enquiry and questioning people earlier associated with the building, including the previous owner. Before Bajaj purchased the property in 2022 for around ₹4.5 crore, the building was of two-and-a-half floors and used as a khadi store. Bajaj admitted that the two gates were covered and only the third that opened towards the front was left for use,” said one of the officers, who did not wish to be named.

Had the two access gates been operational, without being constructed over, the incident would not have resulted in as many fatalities, officers said.