Post News Network
Malkangiri, March 7: A 35-year-old woman and her one-year-old daughter were charred to death while her husband and a son and a daughter sustained critical injuries in Dengra village under Orkel police limits of this district after their house was set on fire late Wednesday night by a drunken relative.
The deceased were identified as Laxmi, wife of Kamalu Madhi and her daughter Shanti. Kamalu, his son Rajesh (5) and daughter Devaka (3) are undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital.
On being informed by locals, police reached the spot and arrested the accused woman Gurubari, her husband Samara Dora and another man Mangaraj Madkami in this connection. A case was registered under sections 436, 302, 307 and 34 of IPC and the accused were produced in a court Friday, IIC Govind Chandra Behera said.
According to reports, Kamalu had an argument with Gurubari, wife of his brother-in-law Samara Dora. Kamalu spotted sparks in his thatched house in the wee hours Thursday and he immediately rushed out of the house along with one of his daughters and a son. Villagers gathered at the spot as he raised an alarm. Though efforts were made to douse the fire and rescue Laxmi and Shanti, it was too late by then. Both were charred to death inside the house.
The three injured persons were first rushed to Kudumulugumma community health centre and later to the district headquarters hospital. While the villagers were trying to figure out the cause of the accident, accused Gurubari admitted to have set the house afire in an inebriated condition.
Kamalu and his children sustained about 40 per cent burn injuries, police said. Meanwhile, the villagers have demanded government assistance for treatment expenses of the survivors.