A senior North Delhi Municipal Corporation official said the building was about 20 years old. Its structure was weak and in a deteriorated condition, the official added.
The dead include 10 women and seven men, another fire official said, noting that a man and woman were injured.
The blaze started on the second floor of the Arpit Palace Hotel in the heart of the national capital around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were in deep sleep.
Some eyewitnesses said the driver, who is among the injured, tried to speed across the level crossing even when onlookers tried to draw his attention to the approaching train.
Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
His death highlighted the problem of gun violence in South Africa only days after Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was jailed for five years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.
'It will be a mistake to imagine that Sidhu will be a permanent feature of the Congress' Punjab scene,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The release of Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, is in line with South African sentencing guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only one-sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars. The athlete, nicknamed 'Blade Runner' because of the carbon-fibre prosthetics he used during his stellar career on the track, will likely be allowed to leave the house to work, carry out community service or to attend important family events. Pistorius's time in house arrest could be short-lived if state prosecutors succeed in overturning the verdict.
'The first person who started beating these men was Nitin, a college president, and the other was Deepak, who is currently absconding.' 'After that, two more joined the mob.' 'The last one who we arrested was a passerby who was going with cremation material to prepare for his father's funeral.' 'He stopped by and he too started beating these men.'
The Shiv Sena is leading currently in terms of criminal candidates. Out of the 14 declared by them in the first list 12 have a criminal background, as per the Association for Democratic Reforms.
The government told the high court of its decision to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court to appeal against the acquittal.
Actress and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Hema Malini's driver was on Friday arrested on charges of overspeeding and causing death by negligence after her Mercedes collided with another car, killing a four-year-old girl and injuring the actress along with four others last night.
'His past as a cricketer makes it difficult for the BJP to question his nationalism.' 'He gets away by ridiculing Modi while something similar from most Congress leaders does not resonate as much.'
Those in the business of films believe the timing of the sentencing could not have been worse
A police officer, who had registered the first information report against actor Salman Khan in 2002 in the hit-and-run case, informed the trial court on Thursday that the actor was not found at the accident spot after the mishap on that day or at his house, which was barely 200 metres away.
Police have launched a manhunt to arrest the person who stored a huge pile of explosives for mining work in a building which triggered off a series of explosions killing 89 people and injuring over 100 at Petlawad town in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh.
The police has registered a case against six persons, including members of temple managing committee and associates of firework contractors, on attempt to murder and other charges in connection with the Putttingal Devi temple fire tragedy, even as the toll rose to 109.
'There is no difference morally between politicians scoring points amid the rubble and non-politicians who assume that politics and corruption necessarily had something to do with it,' says Mihir S Sharma. 'Both are twisting a tragedy to their own ends.'
The Bombay High Court is slated to deliver its verdict this week on an appeal filed by actor Salman Khan against the five year sentence awarded to him in the 2002 hit-and-run case.
Several people are feared trapped under the debris of the structure.
'I met someone who came out of jail and started telling me wild things that they did inside.' 'I couldn't believe it and then my curiousity led me to do some more digging.'
Taking the stand after the Paralympic and Olympic star pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on February 14 last year, neighbour Michelle Burger testified that she was woken in the middle of the night by a woman shouting for help.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius will stand in a Pretoria dock on Monday to face a charge of murdering his girlfriend, opening the decisive chapter in the story of the rise and fall of one of the world's most recognisable athletes.
'A precedent in the Rajv killers' plea for freedom may flow from slain brigand Veerappan's 2000 demand for the release of 109 associates languishing in prisons in Karnataka for him to release abducted Kannada matinee icon, the late Rajkumar.' 'Acting on a petition filed by the father of a Karnataka cadre IPS officer killed by Veerappan, the Supreme Court reversed the orders of lower court orders in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.' 'If democratically-elected governments give an impression to the citizens of this country of being law-breakers, would it not breed contempt for the law? Would it not invite citizens to become a law unto themselves?' the Supreme Court had observed on the occasion, recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight on the third floor of the four-storeyed building on Senapati Bapat Marg, a commercial hub of the city, a civic official said.
Recent statistics show that the situation is no different across the country with several hospitals lacking the infrastructure to manage a breakout of a blaze.
After 41 days of tears, anguish and at times gruesome testimony in the Pretoria High Court, Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who became one of the biggest names in athletics, will learn this week whether he will spend the next 25 years behind bars.
They say new rules that make over-billing by private hospitals a criminal offence will hurt their ability to treat patients properly, says Subir Roy.
A case has been registered against temple authorities as permission for firecrackers was denied.
During sentencing the judge asked Salman, "What do you have to say? Maximum sentence of 10 years?" Salman said, "You are the judge; whatever you say is correct." Sonil Dedhia/Rediff.com on the courtroom drama that resulted in actor Salman Khan being convicted in a 2002 hit and run case.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com examines how Salman Khan went from a reviled, spoilt Bollywood brat to being a well-loved superstar.
If terror indeed has no religion, no partisan affiliations, and if the government, media and all right-minded people in this country people truly believe that, let us not call one blast a "terrorist incident" and dismiss another one as a mere "cylinder blast" just because it is politically convenient, says Shehzad Poonawala.'If terror indeed has no religion, no partisan affiliations, and if the government, media and all right-minded people in this country truly believe that, let us not call one blast a "terrorist incident" and dismiss another one as a mere "cylinder blast" just because it is politically convenient,' argues Shehzad Poonawalla.
Here are some of the best photographs clicked across the globe in the month of October.
Back in September 2002, Shakti Bhatt/Rediff.com located the former Union Carbide chairman's luxury home in New York, declared unknown by the American and Indian governments. Rediff.com reproduces the feature about his life in hiding.
Rediff.com looks at other sensational murder mysteries that left India shell-shocked.
Is Being Human, the actor's apparel brand, an extension of his persona or is it a move to correct his bad-boy image?
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances