Telangana man charred to death in apartment in Chennai

Chennai: In a tragic incident in Chennai, a 25-year-old man died in a fire accident in his service apartment early on Sunday morning. The police suspect a smouldering cigarette bud to be the cause of the fire. The deceased was identified as C. Bharathwaj (25) of Telangana.

According to the police, the deceased had come to the city a few days ago and was staying in a service apartment near Little Mount  near Saidapet Panagal Maligai, which houses government offices.

“Bharathwaj had worked in Germany and recently returned to India. As his father Chiranjeevi is a businessman, he came to Chennai for a business discussion,” the police said.

The fire control room received a distress call at around 5.30 am and two fire engines from Saidapet and Teynampet fire stations were rushed to the spot. As the fire had spread from inside of Bharathwaj's apartment, the firemen had a hard time dousing it and they had to break windows to enter the apartment. “When the fire personnel doused the fire and went inside, they found charred body of Bharathwaj on his bed,” the police said.

 The Saidapet police retrieved the body and sent it to Government Royapettah hospital for post-mortem. “Bharathwaj was said to be under the influence of alcohol when the incident happened and he forgot to dispose of the cigarette butt that may have been left smouldering. The cigarette may have fallen on the bed and started the fire,” a source said.