At least 27 people were killed and 12 injured when a four-story building caught fire near the Mundka Metro station in Delhi. Officials from the fire department, police, and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) have established that the structure where the fire started was unlawfully built and lacked a fire department no-objection certificate (NOC). Following an initial investigation, it was discovered that the building was overburdened due to the storage of CCTV cameras and routers, as well as workstations and offices. Meanwhile, an investigation discovered that lithium batteries and chemicals were stored on the building's second level, which functioned as a catalyst for the fires to spread. The Sanjay Gandhi Hospital was flooded with distraught families of the fire victims.

Harish Goyal and his brother Varun Goyal had already been arrested, and police were looking for the property's owner, who had allegedly escaped the fire with his family from the top-floor home by climbing onto the roof of an adjacent building. The owner of the building has been identified as Manish Lakra, who lived on the top floor and is currently absconding. "Lakra was using fake or forged documents,” said an officer on condition of anonymity. "We never awarded the building a fire NOC," stated Atul Garg, the Delhi Fire Services Chief. They never applied for a certificate, according to our records." The investigation has so far revealed that Lakra and his family reportedly obtained fraudulent permits and paperwork in order to obtain an MCD clearance certificate in 2016. On Sunday, two days after the event, Lakra was apprehended in Ghevra Mod on his route to Haridwar, Uttarakhand.