Couple suffocates due to smoke inhalation

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, January 9

A couple is suspected to have died after inhaling poisonous gas emanating from burning coal in an iron ‘tasla’ kept in their room in Jagadhri town of the district.

The deceased have been identified as Amitesh (40) and his wife Priyanka (37) of Rohtak’s Gandhi Nagar. According to information, Priyanka had been working as a teacher in a private school in Jagadhri for about 21 months while her husband Amitesh was a receptionist there. They lived with their 11-year-old and 5-year-old sons in a rented room in Jagadhri’s Krishna Colony.

Priyanka used to teach tuitions to schoolchildren at her home. On Wednesday, when the children came for tuition in the evening, they found the door of Priyanka’s room locked from inside. When the children failed to get the door opened despite repeated efforts, they informed their parents and one of the parents called up the police.

Jagadhri City police station SHO Dinesh Singh Chauhan said Priyanka’s body was found on the bed, while Amitesh’s was lying in the washroom. He said that an iron ‘tasla’ was kept in the couple bedroom and they might have ignited coal in it. The couple’s sons had gone to visit their grandparents in Rohtak due to school holidays.

The SHO said the couple’s bodies were handed over to their kin after a postmortem on Thursday. Mukand Lal District Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Vijay Dahiya said the probable cause of death was suffocation due to smoke inhalation. The viscera had been sent to the Forensic Laboratory, Maduban, to ascertain the exact cause of death.