A 23-year-old German national was found dead in a beach-side private guest house on Friday night.
Wischnewski Vincent Jualian, a native of Rostack, had suffered serious burn injuries. The bed on which the body was found had been charred.
Sea Beach police said the guest house staff noticed smoke emanating from Vincent’s room on Friday night. When they went inside, Vincent was found burnt and dead while the bed was still on fire.
Vincent had checked into “I Love” guest house on Chakratirth Road on April 3. Police seized the body and sent it to the district headquarters hospital for post-mortem.
It also found large number of sedative drugs, syringe and a laptop besides the Visa and passport of the German national from the room. Cigarette butts were also found from the spot. Preliminary investigation revealed that Vincent was in the room for the entire day and did not go out.
He had come from Chennai on March 31 and checked into Derby Hotel. He checked out of the hotel on April 3 and checked into the guest house.
Puri SP Anup Sahoo said the German national had apparently undergone a surgery recently and was under medication including painkillers and sedatives.
While the fire is suspected to have triggered from the cigarette butt, it is believed to have caught the foamy mattress of the bed.“Since synthetic materials such as foam emit toxic gas, we believe it may have first caused asphyxiation. He had suffered over 70 per cent burns,” the SP informed. Jualian suffered burn injuries on his back.
A detailed investigation was in progress to ascertain the exact cause of the death, he said.
Police have informed the German Embassy about the mishap while the body has been preserved in the morgue after post-mortem. Police registered a case and investigation was on. The guest house room has been sealed after recovery of the body.