Man tries to set himself on fire, triggers explosion instead

A 55-year-old man, who attempted to commit suicide by setting himself ablaze, was rescued by neighbours in Markandeyanagar on Tuesday.

The man, identified as Sundar Murthy, set newspapers on fire, which triggered an explosion later. The blast gutted the house, which is situated on the fourth floor.

The cement sheet roof of the house was damaged and a part of the wall collapsed due to the fire.  Two fire department personnel were injured after they fell off the building staircase while dousing the blaze. They were rushed to Victoria Hospital.

After setting fire to the newspapers, Murthy, who was alone at home, switched on the gas stove. He also opened the valves of another cylinder.

Neighbours saw smoke emanating from the house at 11am. They rescued Murthy from the house.

Half-an-hour later, he managed to escape and went back to the house. He was, once again, rescued at 11.40 am. After some time, there was an explosion.

Two fire tender reached the spot by 11.50am and doused the fire by 12.10pm.

Murthy tried to hang himself at 10.15am. The bid failed as the saree he used to hang himself tore.

Murthy said that he tried to take the extreme step as his family members had asked him to die, instead of sitting idle at home. He has been unemployed for four years.

The police said that Murthy was earlier working with BNS Distributors on Avenue Road and quit the job due to blood pressure and diabetes. He also suffered from poor vision.

“I was depressed as my wife and children were abusing me. So I decided to end my life,” he said.

Murthy is married to Karapakkam, 45, and has two children—Uday Kumar, a videographer, and Sushma, a class X student.

Karapakkam, Uday and Sushma left home between 8.30am and 9am.

The three were taken to JJ Nagar police station for interrogation.
The police have registered an attempt to suicide case against Kumar.