Bawana fire incident: Video shows NDMC mayor Preety Agarwal saying she 'won't speak against the factory', sparks row

After 17 people were killed in a fire at an illegal firecracker factory in Delhi's Bawana industrial estate, North Delhi mayor Preeti Agarwal on Saturday courted controversy after a video of her cautioning hr aides from speaking on the issue surfaced online.

In the video, Agarwal is seen telling her aide, "iss factory ki licensing hamare paas hai isliye hum kuch nahi bol sakte (I cannot talk about the incident as the licensing of this factory is under the NDMC)."

#WATCH: In the aftermath of Bawana factory fire, BJP leader & North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Preeti Aggarwal caught on cam telling her aide, 'iss factory ki licensing hamare paas hai isliye hum kuch nahi bol sakte.' The incident has claimed 17 lives. #Delhi pic.twitter.com/zXfVjNADl2

— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal retweeted an ANI video regarding the incident. However, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari came to Agarwal's rescue and demanded Kejriwal's apology for retweeting the "fake" video and indulging in low-level politics.

Preeti Aggarwal asked whom does the factory come under, it's murmuring, only 'ye factory' is clear. Ppl are trying to make that fake video viral at a sad time just to blame BJP. CM re tweeted it, he must apologise for such low-level politics in time of despair: Manoj Tiwari, BJP pic.twitter.com/PSmaeEyb5t — ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018

Seventeen people were killed and two injured in a massive blaze at a firecracker storage unit in outer Delhi's Bawana industrial area on Saturday evening, a Delhi
Fire Services official had said.

The fire, which started at the storage unit on the ground floor of a two-storey building, ripped through the structure.

Ten women and seven men were killed, another fire official said, noting that a man and woman were injured. The two injured — Roop Prakash (in his 20s) and Sunita (in her 40s) — have been admitted to a hospital.

With inputs from PTI