Bengaluru techie, depressed over ill health, found dead inside car filled with nitrogen

A senior software engineer allegedly killed himself by inhaling nitrogen in his car in Northwest Bengaluru on Monday. He was said to have been depressed about his health.

The deceased was identified as Vijay Kumar (52), who worked for a private company and lived with his wife, son and daughter in Mahalakshmi Layout. The son is an MBBS student while the daughter is studying engineering.

Kumar left behind a purported note, which talks about his health problems.

Police investigations showed that Kumar underwent heart surgery last January and had been suffering from breathing problems since.

He left home on Monday morning and drove to a park in Kurubarahalli. He told a chaat vendor he was tired and would rest inside the car. Stating that passing vehicles would disturb him, he asked the street vendor to put a cover on his car. The vendor didn’t suspect anything and partially covered the car.

In the evening, a local resident who usually parked at the same place arrived and checked whose car it was. He was shocked to find a notice stuck to the front windshield, which said only police should open the car door because the vehicle is filled with poisonous gas.

The resident peeped inside and was horrified to see a man in the back seat with his face covered in plastic. The resident called the police.

Mahalakshmipuram police rushed to the spot and opened the car door. They found a 10-litre nitrogen cylinder and a pipe — one end was connected to the cylinder and the other was tied to plastic paper. The man inside the car had wrapped his face in the plastic paper.

Police took him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police later traced his family.

The family told police that following a heart surgery last January, Kumar developed complications, including difficulty breathing. He also had suicidal thoughts, they said.

Police have learnt that Kumar had searched the internet for ways to end his life. He watched videos and chose to inhale nitrogen inside a closed car. He bought a cylinder, kept it in the boot space and inhaled the poisonous gas.

Police are ascertaining where Kumar bought the cylinder and if there were other reasons for his purported suicide.