Featured Image: The suspect Boja, and the house that he allegedly set on fire | Credits: DH Photo
Six people, including four children, died while four others were injured after their house was set ablaze in the early hours of Saturday. The incident was reported from Mugutageri village in Vajrapete taluk, Kodagu.
The suspect, identified as Eravara Boja (45), is related to the victims. The man committed the crime in an inebriated state, following a dispute with his wife, the police said. Three of the victims were charred to death while the other three succumbed to injuries in a hospital in Mysuru.
Boja allegedly set fire to the room in a house belonging to coffee grower Kolera Chityappa, when the victims were asleep. He is believed to have used a ladder to climb the thatched roof and pour petrol into the room after removing the roof’s tiles. He then shut its windows and door before setting it on fire. As the fire spread fast, the sleeping victims were trapped. He is said to have targeted the room in which his wife Baby was sleeping.
Boja is currently absconding. Police is on the look-out for the accused.
Among those charred to death are Boja’s wife Baby (40) and his relatives Pani Eravara Seethe (45) and Prarthana (6). The couple’s grandchildren Prakash (6) and Vishwas (3) and another relative Vishwas (7), who suffered serious burn injuries, were rushed to the Community Health Centre in Gonikoppa and later to a hospital in Mysuru, where they died.
Baby’s son-in-law Manju and her relative Tola escaped unhurt as they were sleeping in another room. IGP southern range Praveen Madhukumar visited the scene of the crime.
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