Fire didn’t originate from external pole: Discom report

Indore: Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company Limited (MPPKVVCL) has prepared an internal report claiming that faulty electric pole was not the cause of Indore house fire that claimed eight lives.According to Superintending Engineer Dilip Kumar Gathe, the initial investigation confirmed that the fire did not originate from the external electric pole. "It is 100% confirmed that the fire broke out on the house's ground floor and then spread to the pole, not the other way round," Gathe said.The department's report is based on minute-to-minute data from a smart meter. Officials noted that while the house had a sanctioned load of 15 kW, actual consumption fluctuated between 2 kW and 9 kW. Data shows that the family typically charged their Electric Vehicle (EV) between 11 pm and 3 am, and the load would spike to 9 kW during these hours. Discom is analysing whether the car was still plugged in when the fire started.Saurabh Pugalia, who lost his father Manoj and wife Simran in the tragedy, has vehemently refuted the department's theory. He has insisted the car was not on charge at the time of the incident. "The fire started at the pole. Viral videos clearly show a short circuit happening there, with the current then travelling to the car parked beneath it," he claimed."The investigation is still ongoing. We are exploring all possibilities to establish the exact cause of how the fire started, including the point of whether the electric car's battery exploded due to overcharging," Gathe said.Furthermore, while initial reports blamed ‘electronic locks', senior police officials later clarified that the house used multi-lever deadlocks that require multiple key rotations and significant effort to align the levers, which may have made them nearly impossible to open quickly in a smoke-filled, panicked environment.As the forensic team (FSL) continues to analyse the charred remains of the vehicle and the household circuitry, the community remains on edge, mourning a family that was lost in a matter of minutes.