CHENNAI: Three of a family, sleeping in their house at Koyambedu, were found dead on Tuesday morning. Police suspect they were suffocated to death by the fumes from a diesel generator running inside the house.
Neighbours said electricity in the area went off around midnight and the family may have switched on the generator to power fans in the house at Mettukulam, Koyambedu. Initially, locals suspected a gas leak from the air-conditioner. However, police later confirmed there was no such leak. Police said the family had tried to escape. S Saravanan, 38, was found dead near the hall, his wife Kalaiarasi, 30, on the bedroom floor hugging their eight-year-old son Karthikeyan.
Family was preparing to celebrate boy’s birthday
“The couple may have attempted to escape, but it was apparently too late,” said an investigating officer.
“The technicians said there was no leak from the AC. So, we now suspect fumes from the generator,” said a police officer investigating the case. The police are awaiting the autopsy report to confirm the cause of death.
Neighbours, who first entered the house on Tuesday morning, noticed a foul odour which made police suspect that the deaths were due to suffocation by fumes. The generator had been placed outside the bedroom door.
“Power went off two times last night. The first was around midnight and it was restored after 30 min. The second time was around 3 am. It was restored only early in the morning. I went to use the toilet at around 5.30am and heard the generator running inside the house. Usually, Saravanan would switch off the generator once power is restored,” Sasikala, a neighbour said.
“Everyday, Kalaiarasi would come out to collect water from the hand pump at the street at 7 am. On holidays, she would be there at 9 am. Since it was a holiday, we thought they may get up late, but then becoming suspicious, I alerted others,” Sasikala added.
Neighbours eventually broke into the house as there was no response from the family. The three were rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors said they were already dead. Saravanan (38) worked as a manager at a private firm at Senneerkuppam. Kalaiarasi was a nursing graduate working at a BPO company. Karthikeyan was studying in Class III at a private school nearby.
Kumaran (25), younger brother of Kalaiarasi, lives a few metres away from the house. He said, “We were planning for Karthikeyan’s birthday on Thursday. We gave family photos for printing birthday banners.” But, everything has now changed, said Kumaran, who was waiting at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital to collect the bodies after post-mortem.
Speaking to Express, Venugopal, an experienced air-conditioner mechanic, said the possibility of suffocation due to gas leakage from a split AC was low. If there was any gas leakage, it would be very slow. Immediate leakage would happen only if the outlet tube of the air-conditioner exploded. The sound of that explosion would be very loud, he said. Koyambedu police have registered a case.