Chennai: A 52-year-old woman and her grandson died of breathing smoke when she burned charcoal to drive mosquitoes in their room with a closed door and air conditioning ran in Tambaram.
Pushpalakshmi, her husband Chockalingam, 55, their daughter Mallika, 38, and her son Vishal, 11, rushed to the hospital after a neighbor called the police when they saw the smoke out of the house on Thursday.
Pushpalakshmi cannot be revived while Vishal dies at the Institute of Child Health, Egmore, at night.
Chockalingam and Mallika have shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital.
The police said they were waiting for an autopsy report for the exact cause of death, but the initial investigation pointed to the smoke.
The police said the pushpalakshmi had brought charcoal to burn to the room to drive mosquitoes.
After a while, he closed the door of the room and turned on the air conditioner, while charcoal continued to smoke in the corner.
The family fell asleep and breathed in smoke, which thickened in a closed room., Said an investigative officer.
After the neighbor lifted alarm, the police team from Sankar Nagar station went to the house and shifted the family first to a government hospital in Chromepet.
Police Sankar Nagar has registered a case.