Licensed For 6, Running 25 Rooms, Only Exit Found Locked: Inside The Deadly Chain Of Lapses In Malviya Nagar Fire Tragedy

New Delhi: At least 21 people lost their lives, and 37 others were rescued following a devastating fire that erupted at a hotel in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar district on Wednesday morning (June 3). 

The fire sparked widespread panic as guests struggled to flee smoke-choked rooms, while firefighters mounted a large-scale rescue operation to save those trapped inside.

The blaze broke out at Lemon Green Inn, a hotel operating under the Bed and Breakfast scheme in South Delhi's Malviya Nagar, on Wednesday morning. 

As investigators dig deeper into the horrific blaze, a shocking trail of illegal construction, flagrant safety violations, and structural death traps has emerged as the definitive reason behind the high casualty count.

The Trigger: Short Circuit and Cylinder Blasts

The fire is believed to have originated late at night on one of the lower floors, likely near the kitchen or a central utility area.

Investigators suspect an electrical short circuit in a high-load appliance or the central air conditioning wiring acted as the initial spark.

The fire quickly reached the hotel's kitchen zone, reportedly triggering secondary blasts in commercial gas cylinders. 

These explosions ripped through the lower structure, immediately compromising the building's emergency exits and cutting off main evacuation routes for guests sleeping upstairs.

A 6-Room Licence Blown Up to a 25-Room Death Trap

According to official sources, the establishment held a license granted by the Delhi government strictly under the 'Bed and Breakfast' (B&B) concept. 

Under this specific regulatory framework, the property was legally granted permission to construct and operate only six rooms.

Instead, the operators brazenly violated building norms to maximise profit. The hotel was illegally operating a staggering 25 rooms across a multi-storey structure consisting of a basement, a ground floor, and five upper floors.

Several of these unauthorised rooms were crammed into the basement, an area highly susceptible to quick asphyxiation during a fire.

Surviving foreign nationals and guests questioned why the building lacked proper ventilation. 

The illegal partitions meant many rooms were entirely windowless, trapping occupants in pitch-black darkness with no fresh air options as toxic smoke flooded the corridors.

The Locked Exit and the Chimney Effect

Fire Officer A.K. Malik confirmed that the multi-storey building was structurally compromised from a safety standpoint. 

Reports from the ground indicate that the building featured only one main exit, a severe violation of national building codes that mandate multiple distinct egress routes for commercial lodging. 

Making matters worse, sources reveal that this sole exit was locked at the time of the fire.

As a result, the central stairwell and single exit path acted as a chimney, pulling thick, suffocating smoke upward through all five floors. 

Tragically, most of those killed were completely trapped in their rooms or the corridors, unable to find a single open pathway out of the building.

Delhi Police have launched a massive investigation into the hotel management, and a high-level committee has been formed to probe how a 6-room 'Bed and Breakfast' establishment successfully managed to run a massive, unauthorised 25-room commercial operation right under the noses of local municipal authorities.