When Rajesh Maurya went in for a knee surgery at ESIC hospital, his cousin Pramod Maurya was right by his side. But while Monday's fire left Pramod in critical condition, Rajesh, who was shifted to a private hospital after his escape, has been slapped with a bill or R16,000, and the doctors refuse to discharge him until the ESIC authorities clear the bill.

When Rajesh Maurya was wheeled out of the operation theatre, neither he nor his cousin Pramod could have imagined that just two hours later, they would be dangling from the fourth floor, hanging on to a rope for dear life. When the building was engulfed in flames, the brothers jumped from the fourth floor window. Still raw from his knee surgery, Rajesh miraculously managed to climb a rope down to safety.