CHENNAI: A 34-year-old IT employee was found dead inside his rented house in Saligramam early Monday morning.

On noticing smoke emanating from his home, neighbours, with the help of authorities, broke into his room and found him unconscious beside a charred mattress.

Preliminary investigations have suggested that spark from a cigarette butt to have set the mattress afire leading to the victim suffocating while asleep.

According to the KK Nagar police, the deceased was identified as T Netaji of Tiruvannamalai district. Probe revealed that he was employed at a private IT firm in the city and was living in a rented house on Vijayaraghavapuram 7th Street here for the last two years.

Around 3 am, neighbours who woke up sensing smoke from his home alerted the police and the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) personnel who secured him and rushed him to a government hospital where he was declared dead.

Police suspect that the victim was in an inebriated state and slept off with the cigarette in his hand which led to the mattress catching fire and further leading to his asphyxiation. Police are awaiting the post-mortem report to confirm the cause of death.