In a shocking incident, a husband-wife duo and two children were reportedly found burnt alive inside their house in Devkali village under Gola police station of Gorakhpur district on early Sunday morning.
Cut marks were also found on the woman’s body beside kerosene and other burning material was also recovered which raised suspicion that it was a well-planned killing or the family had committed suicide as initially apprehended by the local police.
The police sent the bodies for autopsy and were waiting for the report before heading with the probe.
The local villagers claimed family discord might have led to the incident.
Reports said that Indra Bahadur Maurya (42) of the village used to maintain the family by setting up a vegetable stall in the market. The people of the village say that he used to have frequent disputes with his wife.
On Sunday morning, the locals saw smoke coming out of Maurya’s house. When the people broke the gate, they were shocked to see the badly burnt bodies of Indra Bahadur, his wife Sushila Devi (38), daughter Chandni (10) and son Aryan (8). All were lying on the same bed. Cut marks are also present at many places on the woman's body.
Seeing the spot, it seems that there was a struggle before the fire broke out. The room was full of the smell of kerosene. As soon as the news spread, a crowd gathered on the spot and the police also reached the spot. The cops said that Indra Bahadur tried to commit suicide with full family but his wife resisted so she was attacked her and once she fainted, he poured kerosene over the entire family and set themselves on fire.
Further investigations are on in the matter.
Meanwhile, another tragic incident came to light in Kaushambi where a 3-year-old girl was burnt to death due to a fire in a thatched house. The incident was reported from Bahadurpur village.
According to reports, one Ram Babu Pasi lived with his family in a thatched house. At the time of the incident, Ram Babu had gone out of the house for some work along with his wife and son. Their 3-year-old daughter was sleeping on a cot in a thatched house. On Saturday evening, a sudden fire broke out in the thatch and in no time, the fire engulfed the house.
Seeing the rising flames, the villagers rushed to the house but they failed to save the girl.
The police are investigating what sparked the fire.