Man smokes in bed, suffocates to death

NEW DELHI - Cigarette smoking can kill — in more ways than one. A man who smoked in bed suffocated to death — after his bed caught fire.

Police said 26-year-old Raj Kumar, an MTNL employee, suffocated to death Friday after his bed caught fire from a cigarette he was smoking.

According to police, the incident was reported at around 1.00 p.m. from M block in Mangolpuri area in north Delhi.

The body was discovered after people sitting in a park in front of his house saw smoke coming out of his room on the third floor.

“They rushed to his room and informed his mother who was on the ground floor. They knocked on his room. On getting no response, one of them managed to enter the room through a window,” an officer said.

Kumar was lying on the ground, his bed had caught fire and the pillow had turned to ashes.

“Kumar was drunk Thursday night and went to his room without having food. There, he puffed many cigarettes and fell asleep. His bed caught fire from the lit cigarette. He, somehow, fell down from the bed and suffocated to death,” the officer said.

Kumar was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

His wife Pratibha with their son was at her father’s home for the last one week.