A 68-year-old man allegedly died by suicide by lighting his own funeral pyre at Puthur in Kollam district, police said on Thursday.
Vijayakumar, a native of nearby Maranad, was found charred to death in his ancestral property.
Vijayakumar had been suffering from some ailment and could not go for work for some time, they said.
His sister, who is living alone in a house on the property, noticed a blaze at midnight and thought that wood might have caught fire accidentally.
She also doused it with the help of another relative living in the neighbourhood. In the morning, they found the body, they said.
A suicide note, allegedly written by Vijayakumar, was recovered by the police.
In the letter addressed to his friend, Vijayakumar stated that he was ending his life as he was unable to work anymore due to his health condition, they added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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