An elderly man suffered fatal burns while striking a match to light a cigarette at his Kasba home.

The 68-year-old man, whose windcheater caught fire, was hospitalised on Tuesday afternoon and he died early on Wednesday.

Police said Jayanta Bhattacharjee, the victim, was a retired bank official. He was apparently a chain-smoker.

“Family members took him to hospital, where he recorded his statement. He died of the burns the next morning. No foul play is suspected,” said an officer of Kasba police station.

Bhattacharjee’s son Subhojit said his father was alone on the first floor of their house on Sarat Ghosh Garden Road when the accident happened.

“My wife heard my father’s screams and rushed upstairs. By then his apparel was burning. He was wearing a windcheater that had instantly caught fire,” Subhojit told Metro on Thursday.

This was the fifth incident in the city in the last three months of an elderly person dying of burns.

A police officer said there had been instances of a room catching fire from a burning cigarette while the person holding it fell asleep. “But what happened at the Kasba home on Tuesday is rare,” the officer said.

Bhattacharjee’s family members said they had tried their best to douse the fire by pouring water on him. “My wife and I tried our best to douse the fire with water. My father was in his senses and responding. We called a local doctor, who asked us to take him to SSKM Hospital,” Subhojit said.

In October 2020, Dola Mitra, 63, had died of burns after her silk sari caught fire while she was performing Lakshmi Puja at home. Chaya Nag, 74, has suffered fatal burn injuries while cooking at her daughter’s house in Radha Madhab Dutta Garden Lane in Beleghata in December 2020. An LPG cylinder leak was suspected to have triggered the fire.

Four days after the death of Nag, 60-year-old Manjula Dutta, a resident of Bosepukur Prantik Pally in Kasba, died of burn injuries after her apparel caught fire while lighting the lamp during her morning puja at home.

Earlier this month, a 64-year-old woman died of burns while performing the last rites of her husband in Kasba.

Pedestrian hit by auto, driver held

South Port: A 55-year-old pedestrian was injured after being hit by an autorickshaw on Circular Garden Reach Road on Wednesday evening. Paritosh Mandal, a resident of Kidderpore, was taken
to SSKM Hospital. He was treated and discharged. The offending vehicle was intercepted and seized and the driver arrested.