Mysore/Mysuru, Sept. 3 -- Man burnt alive as burning beedi ignites stored scrap papers and fuels fire at Mandi Mohalla home

A 60-year-old rag-picker, identified as Siddanaika, was charred to death after a fire broke out in his rented house on Sir Khazi Road, Mandi Mohalla, this morning.

Siddanaika, who earned his livelihood by collecting plastic and paper waste from garbage dumps and later selling it as scrap, had stored a large quantity of these items in his house.

At the time of the incident, his wife Puttamma, who works as a house-help, was away, while his granddaughter Lakshmi, a degree student at a Government College, was taking a bath.

According to preliminary reports, Siddanaika had been smoking a beedi while resting on a cot....