Eight-year-old television actor Veer Sharma, known for playing Pushkal in SonySAB’s Shrimad Ramayan, and his 16-year-old brother Shoriya died after a fire broke out at their home in Rajasthan’s Kota, police said.

About the family: Where were the parents?

The boys were alone in their fourth-floor flat at Deepshree building under Anantpura police station limits when the blaze erupted around 2 am on Sunday. Their father Jitendra Sharma, a coaching centre teacher, was attending a bhajan programme, while their mother, actor Rita Sharma, was in Mumbai.

Kota city SP Tejeshwani Goutam said a short circuit is suspected to have triggered the fire, which was confined to the drawing room. The children, who were asleep, are believed to have died of suffocation from smoke inhalation rather than burns.

Neighbours found the children at home

Neighbours noticed smoke, broke open the door, and pulled the brothers out in an unconscious state before rushing them to hospital, where doctors declared them dead. They also doused the flames with fire extinguishers installed in the building, with no fire tenders called to the spot.

The drawing room and its furniture were gutted, police said. The bodies were handed over to the family after Rita Sharma’s arrival from Mumbai. As per the family’s wishes, the children’s eyes were donated to an eye bank.

An FIR has been lodged under section 194 of the BNSS Act, and further investigation is on to determine the exact cause of the fire and deaths.

(With PTI inputs)