Nuapada: In a shocking incident, an elderly woman set fire to her thatched house with the body of her son inside, as the woman had no money to conduct his last rites.
The horrific incident was reported from a slum along Khariar Road in Nuapada district.
Suspecting it to be a fire breakout, locals alerted the fire brigade who reached the spot and doused the flames. However, to everyone’s shock, the fire personnel noticed a man’s half-burnt body lying inside the hut.
The elderly woman was identified as Tulsi and her son was identified as Hiralal Sindhu. Sindhu was physically sound but was unemployed and could not find any work, said sources. He wandered around aimlessly and lived with his elderly mother. The mother-son duo eked out a living with whatever Tulsi got in her ration through her NFSA card.
Locals spotted smoke arising from Tulsi’s house and alerted the fire department which doused the flames and recovered Sindhu’s body from the house. Locals suspected that Sindhu had died a few days back as a bad smell was emanating from the house. They claimed that Tulsi set her house on fire along with the body after the foul smell started spreading. Tulsi might have resorted to the step as she had no money at all, locals said, adding that she was mentally ill.
Police registered a case of unnatural death in this connection and launched an investigation. PNN
