Three found unconscious in car in Delhi, die

Three young men were found unconscious and frothing from their mouths here Monday evening in a car with its air conditioner on. They were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead, police said Tuesday.

The three men were found inside a Honda City car around 9.30 p.m. Monday in Sector 4 of R.K. Puram area in south Delhi. An earlier report said the car was spotted at 7.15 p.m.

The three have been identified as Lakshman Singh, 34, Balvinder Singh, 35, and Nishant Datta, 25, all residents of south Delhi.

The car, which belonged to Lakshman, was spotted by his brother Kanhaiya. The car was parked opposite Kanhaiya's shop.

After the three did not respond despite his repeated knocking, Kanhaiya informed his family members who live nearby.

They took the three, who were unconscious and frothing at the mouth, out of the car.

The family then informed the police and rushed the three men to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where they were pronounced dead.

Lakshman was a resident of R.K. Puram, Dutta lived in Laxmi Bai Nagar, while Balvinder stayed at Vasant Kunj.

They were in the catering business and were to make a payment of around Rs.1.5 lakh. But the money was not found in the car, a relative of Datta said.

"They had also vomited in the car," Manoj Kumar, Datta's brother-in-law, told IANS.

Manoj Kumar added that Lakshman had bought packets of chips from Kanhaiya's shop around 7.30 p.m.

"The three were sitting inside the car. A few items recovered from the car include packets of chips, noodles and pasta," Manoj Kumar said.

Another relative quoted the police as saying that the car windows were rolled up and the air conditioner was on. The investigators are looking at the possibility of the deaths being caused by carbon monoxide poisoning since there were no signs of any struggle in the car.

The post-mortem examination report is awaited, police said.