Father leaves son to die in blaze

KOLKATA: A 24-year-old physically challenged youth was left to die in a burning house by his father on Wednesday night. By the time the fire brigade doused the flames and reached him, Babu was nearly charred. He died in hospital a little later.
The father, Om Prakash Gupta, allegedly did not even bother to get help from neighbours. Even more mysterious, the fire broke out in Babu���s room whereas Gupta���s room was barely singed.Police have detained him for questioning.
The incident occurred at a two-room house at 2/A Tarak Banerjee Lane near Sovabazar. It was around midnight that Babu spotted the flames and shouted for help, police say. With a disabled leg and arm since birth, he could not get up on his own, let alone get out. His father, instead of helping him, quietly slipped out. Om Prakash opened the gates and went to his wife���s house ��� a few blocks away ��� without trying to draw the attention of his neighbours.
The Guptas��� neighbours informed Burtolla police station. They first thought both the father and the son were trapped. But by the time the fire was doused, police found the near-charred body of Babu. ���There was a power cut in the area and I was woken up by the screams of the family who live above my house. They had seen the flames. We rushed out and tried to douse the fire but it was raging so fiercely that we could do nothing. The fire brigade arrived half an hour later,��� said Mousumi Sil, a neighbour.
���I met Babu in the evening and we exchanged pleasantries. The father-son duo did not mix much with neighbours. Though Babu was handicapped and had a little problem with his speech, he was a polite young man. We are shocked that a father could desert his own son to die in a fire,��� said Anjali Pal, a neighbour.
���We have detained the father of the deceased for questioning. We have found discrepancies in his statement but as of now, it is not clear if there was any conspiracy,��� DC (north) Pallav Ghosh said.