March 15: A man set himself on fire in a room on the terrace of a Bhowanipore building this afternoon, an officer of Bhowanipore police station said.

Fire officers of Kalighat fire station brought out Madan Gupta's charred body after breaking open the lock around 3pm. There was no one else in the family's three-roomed unit, an officer said.

At least 33 families live as tenants in the building right next to Netaji Bhavan Metro station.

Gupta, 35, whose family owns a sari shop in Jadu Babu's Bazar, used to work in a share trading company, one of his neighbours said.

He was unmarried and had been living alone ever since his parents shifted to his brother's flat in Bansdroni a fortnight before Holi.

Gupta had a heated exchange with his brother Gopal and father Ramprasad in the family's shop, Kamala Bastralaya, about half an hour before smoke was found billowing out of his room, the police officer said.

Gupta wanted the family business split between him and his brother, who runs the shop, the officer said.

Maheshwar Kamat, who taught both brothers in school, said their father had called him today to help him persuade Gupta to wait for some time before he could take a final call on the matter.

"His parents had recently vacated this place and moved into his brother's house in Bansdroni in an attempt to calm him," Kamat said.

"They had told him he could live by himself and use all the three rooms. But today he lost his cool and left the discussion midway in a huff around 2.30pm," he said. A little while later smoke started billowing out of his room, he said.

The fire didn't spread to other rooms but some of the tenants said it could have been disastrous as an LPG cylinder was kept outside a locked room on the terrace.

"Had the cylinder exploded, the entire building would have been on fire," R.K. Singh, a tenant who lives on the first floor of the two-storey building, said. "Apart from the Guptas, four families live as tenants on the terrace."

Cops didn't find any suicide note, the police officer said. Gupta's brother and son were questioned at the police station and allowed to go after 5pm, he said.