30 April,2026 02:20 PM IST | Jaipur | mid-day online correspondent
The incident took place near Maujpur on Wednesday night when the victims were returning to Madhya Pradesh after a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir. (Pic/Screengrab from X)
In a tragic incident, five members of a family were burnt alive and their driver suffered serious injuries after a fire broke out in their car on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Rajasthan's Alwar district, news agency PTI reported, quoting police on Thursday.
The incident took place near Maujpur on Wednesday night when the victims were returning to Madhya Pradesh after a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir.
Additional Superintendent of Police Priyanka Raghuvanshi, while briefing about the incident, said that fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control in 15 minutes, but by then, the car was completely gutted.
The victims have been identified as Santosh, a resident of Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh, his wife Shashi, mother Parvati, and daughters, Raghani and Sakshi.
Briefing about the cause of the incident, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kailash Jindal said that a short circuit is suspected to have triggered the blaze. As it was a compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle, the fire spread fast, leaving the occupants with no time to escape, the police said.
"Only skeletal remains were recovered from the vehicle, which have been preserved separately." DNA tests will be conducted to establish their identity," Jindal informed.
The car driver, who has been identified as Vinod Kumar Mehar, managed to jump out of the vehicle, but has sustained around 80 per cent burn injuries. He was initially taken to a nearby health centre and later referred to Jaipur for advanced treatment, officials said.
A Mumbai Police constable was killed after a heavy piling rig collapsed on him at an under-construction flyover site on the Sion-Panvel Highway in the Mankhurd area.
The incident took place on Tuesday night along the northbound carriageway of the Sion-Panvel Highway.
The victim, Santosh Gopal Chavan, was returning home on his motorcycle when the accident took place.
According to police, a piling rig used for drilling foundation piles suddenly toppled at the construction site and struck the constable.
Preliminary findings suggest that the machinery may have been placed on unstable ground, which could have led to the collapse.
Chavan sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.
(With inputs from PTI)
