Two friends – one an engineer and another a businessman – were charred to death when the car in which they were returning from a party went up in flames in Sector 119 early on Saturday, trapping them inside. Fire department officials said a short circuit in the car’s air conditioner may have caused the fire, locking the doors automatically. According to them, a guard deployed at the main gate of Amrapali Platinum – where one of the car’s occupants was to get off – called up the fire department at 6.25am to inform them that a white Swift was up in flames on the nearby road.