An octogenarian cancer patient committed suicide by setting fire to herself in her Chembur house on Tuesday.
Leela Nair (83) stayed with her daughter Malathy (56) at Amardeep building in Tilak Nagar. On Tuesday, at 3 p.m., when Nair’s grandson, who lives nearby, came to visit her, he saw smoke billowing out of the flat. He immediately called the Fire Brigade and their personnel found her dead in the kitchen. One fire engine was used to douse the ‘level 0’ fire. The kitchen was partially damaged in the fire.
Nair was moved to Rajawadi Hospital, where she was declared dead. The body has been sent of a post-mortem. Tilak Nagar police have registered an accidental death report.
Sushil Kamble, Senior Police Inspector, Tilak Nagar police station, said, “She was suffering from breast cancer for almost 24 years and later contracted bone marrow cancer. She had been undergoing treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel. Relatives told us that she was depressed.”