Charred remains of man found

CHENNAI: The charred remains of an unidentified man were found among the makeshift tents that were gutted in a blaze at a construction site in Sholinganallur on Tuesday.About 60 tin-roofed tents were erected in a one-ground plot near a chain of upcoming apartment buildings at Kumarasamy Nagar. Construction labourers brought from Orissa and Andhra stayed there,  Inspector A Sivakumar told Express. The tents mostly remained empty in the afternoon, as the labourers dispersed for work. Only the children stayed back in the tents.On Tuesday, the colony was engulfed in a blaze around 12.30 pm. On noticing the flames, the children and other occupants ran out of their tents. Alerted by the control room, 2 fire engines and 3 Metrowater tenders rushed to the spot. The firemen, led by station officer (Thiruvanmiyur) R Venkatapathy, doused the flames after a 30-minute battle.They found a charred male body in one of the tents. “It was stretched out on the floor,” Venkatapathy said.The police suspect that he could have been inebriated, making it impossible for him to escape. “We are also investigating whether it was a case of suicide,” Sivakumar said.While the body was sent to the Royapettah GH for autopsy, the police are questioning the labourers in a bid to identify the victim. The Semmenchery police have registered a case.