Ghaziabad: An 18-year-old youth was found dead and his father lay in an unconscious state at their one-room house in Sahibabad area of Ghaziabad on Monday morning. Police said the duo had kept some lit tyres in the room to keep themselves warm at night and might have suffocated. The deceased, identified as Tarun Kumar from Bihar, used to run a food stall in the city. His father, Mitthan, is said to be critical.
Sahibabad police station SHO Vishnu Kaushik said Mitthan and Tarun had gone to sleep on Sunday night. The incident came to light when the duo, who used to leave early morning for work, did not emerge from their room. “After they did not open the door, their neighbours went to check on them. Some of them then broke open the door and found them lying unconscious,” said Kaushik.
The locals then immediately called police around 8am after which the man and his son were rushed to a nearby hospital. Tarun was declared brought dead.
The SHO said probe revealed that the room did not have any window and once the main door of the house was shut, there was no way that fumes could escape.
“We have sent Tarun’s body for an autopsy. We can ascertain the cause of death only after the post-mortem report,” he added. In a similar incident on January 14, a 12-year-old boy had died by suffocation in Muradnagar while his parents and sisters had been found unconscious. The family had made arrangements to light a fire with coal inside the house during winter. Their single-room house also lacked proper ventilation.