A retired revenue circle officer died of suffocation after a fire broke out at a private hotel in Bazargaon near Nagpur on Thursday night, with police saying thick smoke from the ground floor engulfed the first-floor gallery where he was found.
Manoj Bande, 59, was the only guest staying on the upper floor of the hotel, according to the report. His body had no burn marks, and police found no signs of foul play. Preliminary findings indicate that the fire may have started because of a short circuit in a ground-floor switchboard.
The flames reportedly spread quickly to a sofa set and other material, filling the hotel with dense smoke within minutes. Hotel staff said they tried calling Bande’s room five times to alert him after the fire began, but he did not respond. His body was later found lying in the first-floor gallery after the blaze was brought under control.
Bande, a resident of Gulzarpara in Anjangaon Surji in Amravati district, had left home alone around 3pm in his four-wheeler. He was travelling towards Surve Layout in Nagpur to make arrangements for his nephew’s marriage. His brother said Bande had some health issues and stopped at the hotel at around 6.30pm.
Deputy tehsildar Dinesh Hatwar and personnel from Kondhali police station reached the site after the incident was reported. Fire tenders from Kondhali Nagar Panchayat and nearby units were also sent to the hotel to control the blaze.
Police established the deceased man’s identity using his Aadhaar card and other documents recovered from the scene, sources said. Police Inspector Sumit Parteki of Kondhali police station is supervising the investigation.
The incident has brought attention to the danger posed by smoke in enclosed hotel buildings, particularly when a fire starts on a lower floor and access routes become difficult to use. In this case, the exact sequence of events, including how the smoke reached the first-floor gallery and why Bande did not respond to the calls, remains under investigation.
Police are examining the circumstances surrounding the fire. The exact cause will be subject to further investigation, while post-mortem findings are awaited.
