Police brave deadly house fire

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BRAVE police risked their lives to rescue a screaming man from a burning house in Kew East last week. The man, Avjit Singh, 31, a taxi driver, died in the Alfred Hospital from burns to 90 per cent of his body.

The body of his wife, Sargun Ragi, 23, was found in the hallway of the house.

Boroondara detective Senior Sergeant Daryl Cullen, who was in charge of the crime scene, said there would be an inquest into the deaths, which are being treated as a murder-suicide. The homicide squad is investigating.

About 8am on Thursday, Boroondara constables Steve Repac and Nicholas Wethey called for back-up when they saw smoke coming from a house at the corner of Belford Road and Hale Street.

Sergeant Rod Smith and officers Repac and Wethey entered the house to help the man, who was in a bedroom, but heat and smoke forced them back.

The man was coaxed to a smashed window and lifted out by constables Nick Troak and Jean-Paul Antemes. Constable Alison Izzard gave him oxygen, and firefighters poured water on him until paramedics arrived.

According to reports, the couple, from India, had been married for a year but separated in August. Mr Singh had lived in Australia for eight years and Ms Ragi had been in the Kew East house for three days.

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