Coroner Rasyihah Ghazali said no other person was involved in Kannadasan Veerasamy’s death. She found that Kannadasan started the fire which killed him in a storeroom at a car service centre in Bukit Puchong on Nov 19, two years ago.

She said the court, after hearing the testimony of witnesses, found that Kannadasan took his own life due to financial problems.

The court heard that Kannadasan had admitted to misappropriating RM57,000 from his employer, sometime in September that year.

“The deceased promised to return the money to the witness in one month’s time but did not do so,” she said, referring to accounts executive Lim Poh Cheng, who testified in the proceedings.

Rasyihah said Kannadasan had also borrowed RM19,000 from a friend.

The court also found that Kannadasan had left a suicide note.

“The handwriting expert found that the writing was similar to that of the deceased.”

The inquest to determine Kannadasan’s cause of death was held after his family expressed suspicion about the incident in which he lost his life. He was 34 years old.

His widow, Revathi Elangovan, insisted her husband did not commit suicide and that he was a happy person with no financial problems.

Lawyer S Vinesh held a watching brief for Kannadasan’s family while Siti Nabilah Abdul Rashid appeared as the inquest’s conducting officer.

Vinesh told reporters that the family was disappointed with the decision today.

He said he would seek instructions as to whether to file for a revision of the verdict in the High Court.