While youth in the city were welcoming the New Year by burning effigies of the “Old Man” representing 2017, an old man died in a fire he had lit to keep himself warm in Belagavi on Monday night. Then, stray dogs tore the body apart and devoured some parts.
Prabhakar Kukalekar (61) of Angol in Belagavi, a night guard at a factory, was charred to death when his dress caught fire from sparks of the fire he had lit to stay warm on New Year Eve.
The guard had reported for night duty at the private factory in Udyam Bag on Khanapur Road.
He lit a fire on the factory premises with pieces of wood lying around. There was no one else on the premises as the staff had gone home. “He had worn a synthetic shirt and a sweater. The dress must have caught fire. He did not notice it immediately as he was drunk,” the police said. He was charred to death in a few minutes. Past midnight, the scent of the carcass attracted some stray dogs to the site. They ate up parts of the stomach.
Cleaning staff that came to work early in the morning on Tuesday realised that the guard was dead when they say some dogs trying to push around a body from the ashes. They found that the body was cut in half by the dogs. While the torso was still in the ashes, the legs and the waist had been pulled out by the dogs.
Heavy drunkard
The guard had the habit of drinking heavily every night. He was drunk on Monday night too, an investigator said. The guard had completed his dinner that he had packed from home.
Hailing from a poor landless Maratha family, Prabhakar had migrated from Khanapur taluk to take up small jobs two decades ago. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a physically challenged son.
The police believe that it was an accident but are not ruling out anything else at this time. “We will investigate the matter fully,” Niranjan Patil, Circle Inspector of Police, Udyam Bag Police Station, said.
