A 34-year-old man was found dead, under mysterious circumstances, inside a car in the Nehru Place area on Thursday with blood splattered around him, the police said.

There were burns on the body of the deceased with his hair singed, the police added.

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According to the police, prima facie it is a case of suicide by self immolation.

The police said at around 9.40 am, a PCR call was received stating that a dead body with blood splattered around it was lying inside a parked car.

A local police team rushed to the said vehicle parked in front of Pahadpur Business Centre besides Devika Tower in Nehru Place with the deceased at the steering wheel with blood all around him and his nose bleeding.

The police broke the window pane, as the doors of the car were locked, and found the deceased on the steering wheel with burn injuries on his face, thigh and both of his hands.

Meanwhile, the deceased has been identified as 34-year-old Dhruv Mahajan, who was a resident of Dayanand colony, Lajpat Nagar. However, as the car could not fully catch fire, the deceased might have suffered nasal bleeding due to hypoxia stress and asphyxiated to death, it is suspected for now, said the police.

As per initial findings, there was a strong smell of petrol inside the car, the hair of the deceased had fully singed, steering wheel was partially burnt and his T-shirt had soot present on it.

A crushed water bottle, used matchsticks were also found on the front seat, the police added.

During inquiry, the deceased’s sister, who resides in Bangalore, informed that he was in a huge debt.

Based on analysis of the CCTV of the area, the police found that the deceased had come to the spot in his car at around 3.30 am, and after 7 minutes, there was a huge flame seen inside the car, which subsequently subsided after about a minute.

The dead body has been sent to AIIMS hospital for Post Mortem, while investigation has been initiated in the matter, a police official said.