GRAND FALLS TOWNSHIP – The state Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that a man whose burned body was found in July next to his car in northern Hancock County committed suicide.

Cause of death for Krishan K. Ahuja, 59, of Monroe Township, N.J., was thermal burns, and the manner of death was suicide, a spokesman for the Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday.

Ahuja’s body was found July 31 next to his 1997 Lexus near Nicatous Lake. According to officials, he had been seen driving on Route 188 shortly before his car was found burning by the side of the road.

Traces of gasoline were found in Ahuja’s clothing, according to an investigator with the state Fire Marshal’s Office. The fire was started by an explosion in the car, officials said.

Ahuja, who is believed to have been originally from India, reportedly told acquaintances in New Jersey before he died that he was visiting a friend in Maine.