An elderly man, Mir Urfan Ali, was charred to death at the Narada slum in Balipatna on the outskirts of the capital late on Friday night.
Miscreants set ablaze his house after bolting the room from outside. While the man died, his daughter-in-law and grandchildren escaped the fire incident, though they were sleeping in the same house.
“A youth from the Niali area was after my elder daughter. As our family was opposed to it, the youth had threatened to eliminate the entire family. I suspect his hand behind this,” Saleema, the daughter-in-law of Ali, said.
“At around 1 am, some unidentified miscreants set the house afire. My daughter (14) and son (10) fell unconscious due to the smoke billowing from the house. I could manage to take out my children from the house. But I couldn’t save my father-in-law,” she added.
Meanwhile, police rushed to the spot and began an investigation into the matter with the help of a scientific team.