RAJBIRAJ: An elderly man died after the shed where he was sleeping caught fire in Rajbiraj Municipality of Saptari district, on Friday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Jhalahi Yadav (85), father of Mishri Lal Yadav, a resident of Boriya Tole in Rajbiraj-16.

According to Saptari District Police Office (DPO), Jhalahi died after he could not come outside the shed that caught fire, at around 4:00 am today. Police pointed to electrical short-circuit as the cause of the fire.

The elderly man had gone to bed in the shed after having a meal at around 10:00 last night.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Bhubaneshwar Sah at the DPO said the body of the deceased has been sent to Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital in the municipality for the postmortem.

Local witnesses informed that a goat and three buffalos also died in the blazing inferno.

Police with the help of fire brigade doused the fire.