A man who had suffered severe burns in an explosion at his Beckbagan home in south Kolkata more than a week ago died on Friday.
Police investigation had revealed that a room filled with LPG gas following an overnight cylinder leak exploded after a family member switched on a mobile charger plugged into a switchboard.
Anand Das, 43, the man who died, lived on the ground floor of a five-storey building in Ahiripukur First Lane. Along with him, his wife Kiran and son Shivan, who will be eight on October 10, were injured, too.
Das’s brother-in-law, Vijay Nayak, told The Telegraph the family was yet to inform his sister and her son about Das’s death.
“The doctors have told us that my sister and nephew are not in a position to take the news. Both are recuperating. My sister has suffered 36 per cent burns. Now she has developed respiratory problems. We will inform her only after her discharge,” said Nayak.
The Das family had been living in the rented apartment for the past few years. The police said the deceased was working as a cook in a foreign consulate in Calcutta. He was the lone bread-earner of the family.
Such was the intensity of the explosion that it cracked a wall and a portion of the main door and left the window grille badly twisted.
According to Nayak, his sister told him that the family was sleeping when his brother-in-law woke up and went to the washroom.
After returning back to the room, he plugged his mobile phone charger and switched it on.
An almost similar incident was reported from Khardah, on the northern fringes of the city, where three members of a family were electrocuted while trying to charge a mobile phone last month.
