New Delhi : A massive fire broke out at a car showroom in the Saidulajab area of south Delhi’s Saket on Friday, officials said.

According to officials, several vehicles worth crores of rupees were gutted in the fire.

Multiple teams of Delhi Police and the Fire Department are present at the spot.

Cooling operation is currently underway and more details are awaited.

Earlier on Friday, a massive fire broke out at a mobile accessories shop in Delhi’s Gaffar Market, spreading to all floors of a four-storey commercial building.

BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal, who visited the spot, said the blaze may have affected around 20-25 shops.

No casualties or injuries have been reported so far, while property damage has been reported.

In another statement, BJP MP Khandelwal said the fire reportedly broke out around midnight in one of the shops and spread rapidly to other parts of the complex.

“…A fire broke out in one of the shops here, and that fire spread rapidly. There have been no casualties. There hasn’t been any such damage. Some of the traders have even managed to retrieve their goods,” Khandelwal said.

BJP MP Yogendra Chandolia also described the incident as extremely unfortunate and expressed relief that no lives were lost.

According to the Delhi Police, a PCR call regarding a fire in a building in Chain Wali Gali was received at 1.28 a.m. at the Karol Bagh Police Station.

The night staff of the police station, along with the Station House Officer (SHO), immediately reached the spot and found a fire at Shop No. 13/21, Puri Plaza, Gaffar Market.

The building is a four-storey commercial establishment dealing in mobile accessories.

As per the preliminary information, the fire originated in a ground-floor shop where mobile batteries were stored and subsequently spread to all floors of the building.

Around 20-25 fire tenders, three CAT ambulances and two PCR vehicles were deployed at the spot as emergency teams launched firefighting and relief operations.

Police said that no loss of life or injuries had been reported so far, and the damage was limited to property.

Prima facie, overheating or overcharging of batteries appears to be a possible cause of the fire, though the exact reason is yet to be established.

Chandigarh : Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his debate challenge, inviting him to the state to face questions from the party’s Yuva Morcha President. Offering to arrange the venue himself, the Chief Minister said Gandhi could not expect to make what he described as false allegations without facing questions in return. It cannot be a one-sided affair where someone makes false claims and then walks away, he said. The Chief Minister said that if the Congress had any grievances regarding the electoral process, it should present its case before the Chief Election Commissioner. “The Election Commission is an independent institution, and the doors of the courts are also open.”

He questioned why the Congress is unwilling to approach these forums, saying that merely making allegations from home for public consumption would serve no purpose. CM Saini was interacting with the media here after transferring funds under government welfare schemes. He responded to questions on government initiatives, crop procurement, allegations levelled by the Congress and several other issues. Launching a sharp attack on the Congress, the Chief Minister said the party had no substantive issue to take to the people and is therefore attempting to mislead the country in the name of “vote theft” while casting doubts on the credibility of democracy and the Election Commission.

He said if the Congress had complaints about voters’ names being deleted or incorrectly recorded, the Election Commission had already prescribed a procedure for raising objections. Electoral rolls had been made available in the public domain, and a month had been provided for filing objections through the prescribed forms. Despite these provisions, he said, the Congress continued to mislead the public. He said people were watching these developments closely and would no longer be swayed by such claims. “There has been no vote theft. What the Congress is facing today is the consequence of its own actions. People are now even saying that the Congress should shut down the party,” the Chief Minister added.

Mumbai : BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has raised objections regarding the birth rate of Muslim children in Mumbai. Expressing concern over these figures, he claimed that by 2051, the Muslim population could surpass that of the majority community—the Hindus. On the platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Somaiya stated that for every three Hindu children born, two Muslim children are born. He noted that over the past five years, 336,525 Hindu children and 220,754 Muslim children were born in Mumbai. Somaiya further stated that he has requested Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to establish a ‘Demographic Balance Committee’ to prevent Mumbai from becoming a “Muslim Mumbai.” In his tweet, he also alleged a conspiracy to transform Mumbai into a “Muslim Mumbai” and, citing deep concern over the birth rate of Muslim children, urged the Chief Minister to form a committee to implement population control measures.