Elderly dies in cylinder blast in Tilak Nagar house

New Delhi: A 64-year-old man was charred to death after a cooking gas cylinder exploded at his rented ground-floor flat in a three-storey building in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar early Saturday, police said

New Delhi: A 64-year-old man was charred to death after a cooking gas cylinder exploded at his rented ground-floor flat in a three-storey building in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar early Saturday, police said.

Sealed premises of the house where LPG cylinder exploded on Saturday. (PTI)

Although the cause and circumstances are being ascertained, the police suspect it to be an alleged suicide, as their preliminary enquiry revealed that before the incident the elderly man had allegedly shared a suicide note on WhatsApp and uploaded a video on YouTube stating that it was to be his last.

He was a divorcee and had lived in the flat for five years. Police said he used to create and upload vlogs on YouTube.

A Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official said that at 3.25 am, an alert was received about a fire in a house in Sahapura, and three fire tenders were rushed to the scene.

“The fire spread to the upper floors of the building. Firefighting operations continued for nearly two hours, and flames were doused by 6.10 am. The body was also recovered,” a DFS official said.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Hareshwar V Swami said that the body was severely burnt.

“As per the preliminary probe, the fire appeared to have occurred following a cylinder blast. The crime and forensic team were called to inspect the scene,” added the DCP.