According to police, an elderly couple from the Vadodara village of Dashrath died on the intervening night of Sunday after inhaling in carbon monoxide from the coal they had lit to warm themselves.
Vinod Solanki and his wife Usha—both in their late 50s, who lived in a residential colony, were found dead by their son on Sunday afternoon. The Chhani police sought the help of forensic experts to conclude that the couple died due to inhalation of the toxic carbon monoxide fumes.
According to the police, Solanki lit the coal to warm the couple’s bedroom as the sun set on Saturday. When calls to his father’s phone were not returned on Sunday morning, the couple’s son Hardik, who resides in another Vadodara apartment, went to check on his parents.
“Hardik arrived at his parents’ home and managed to enter the house by opening a door of one of the rooms on the ground floor. He discovered his parents’ body in their room on the first floor. In the primary investigation by the FSL, traces of carbon monoxide gas, emitted by the burning coal, were found in the couple’s room, which seems to have been the cause of poisoning,” a police official said. Carbon monoxide is emitted from partially burnt fuels. It is odorless and colourless, which does not alert people about the poison. “The bodies were sent for autopsy and a detailed report is awaited,” the official added.
Solanki worked as a water supply operator at a private company. The couple is survived by a son and a daughter.