Pune: In Khadakwadi, Ambegaon, the heroic actions of a 10-year-old girl, Bharti Padwal, saved her mother from a potential tragedy when their home was set ablaze by an unknown arsonist.
The incident took place at the hamlet, where two tribal laborers, Santosh Ramdas Padwal and Babusha Vaman Padwal, had their huts near their fields.
Both huts were burned down, destroying 10 sacks of grain, clothes, two sacks of peanuts, a TV, household items, a young girl's gold earrings, silver anklets, and approximately 90,000 rupees in cash. The total loss for both families is estimated to be around 200,000 rupees.
The incident occurred on Wednesday (July 24) when both families were out working in the fields. Babusha Padwal's wife, Poonam, was ill and resting inside the hut with their daughter, Bharti.
Around 1:30 PM, Bharti noticed the fire and immediately woke her mother, pulling her outside to safety. Their cries for help brought Santosh and Babusha rushing from the fields, but the presence of two gas cylinders inside the hut prevented anyone from approaching the blaze.
Village council member Gurudev Pokharkar arrived at the scene and informed Ramdas Valse Patil, the personal assistant to Cooperative Minister Dilip Valse Patil, who then arranged for a water tanker from the Bhimashankar Sugar Factory to extinguish the fire.
Local residents, including Santosh Kurkute, Police Patil Nilesh Bhalerao, Gurudev Pokharkar, Anil Sukre, Suryakant Deshmukh, Dnyaneshwar Doke, Suresh Sukre, Dattatraya Bhagwat, and Babaji Doke, rushed to the site, but by then, everything in the huts had burned down, including the children's school bags. The only items saved were the clothes on their backs.
Three days prior, an unknown person had torn clothes inside the hut when no one was home, and two days before the fire, a suspicious individual was seen loitering near the hut but fled when challenged by Padwal from the field. The Padwal families suspect that the fire was set intentionally.
