A 30-year-old woman and her four-year-old son died under mysterious circumstances in Bengaluru after their car went up in flames in the basement of their Whitefield apartment complex on Friday.

According to the security guard, Kamal, deployed at the apartment complex, Neha Varma and her son Param drove out of the apartment complex at around 12.35 pm.

“I saw her leave the apartment with her son in the afternoon, they then drove into the basement at around 3.25 pm. At around 3.45-3.50 pm, I noticed some smoke coming from the basement and the car was on fire. I realised that the car doors were locked from inside so I immediately called the fire station,” he said.

Speaking to TNM, officials at the Fire and Emergency Services control room said that the call had come in at 3.56pm.

“We immediately alerted the Whitefield Fire Station and the firefighters rushed to the spot,” an official at the control room said.

Firefighters from the Whitefield Fire Station reached the spot at 4.12 pm, according to the control room’s log.

“By the time we reached, the car was up in flames. We doused the flames in no time. It was only then that we realised that a woman and a little boy were charred to death,” an officer at the Whitefield Fire Station told TNM.

According to DCP Abdul Ahad, who also reached the spot, Neha Varma and her son lived in Sumadhura Apartments in Southeast Bengaluru’s Whitefield area and the incident occurred after she had parked the car.

“After speaking to the first responder, who is the security guard for the complex he did not know that people were in the car when he spotted the fire. Prima facie, it appears as though there was a short circuit. The security guards deployed at the apartment complex say that in the time between the mother and son driving into the basement and when one of them spotted the fire, no person entered or exited the building. We have registered a case of unnatural death. Forensic experts are yet to submit a report on the cause of the fire,” Whitefield DCP Abdul Ahad told TNM.