By Express News Service
KAINADA: Two persons including a five-year-old girl were burnt alive and four others were injured, when a 27-year-old man had allegedly set afire to their house in Dhulla village of Kaidyam mandal, East Godavari district in the small hours of Wednesday.
The accused was learnt to be holding a grudge against the family for denying alliance with him. Alerted by neighbours, police rushed to the spot with fire tenders and doused the flames. The injured were shifted to the government general hospital in Rajahmundry, where the condition of two injured was reported to be critical.
According to Kadiyam Circle Inspector K Sridhar Kumar, the accused identified as D Srinu (27) had sprinkled petrol all over the house of his relative Kotni Satyaveni and set ablaze before fleeing the spot. He was found to be purchasing petrol from the fuel filling station in Dhulla village in the early hours of Wednesday in a CCTV footage.
Two deceased in the incident were identified as Kotni Ramu (18), son of Satyavathi and her granddaughter G Vijayalakshmi (5). Satyavathi and her elder daughter G Durgabhavani were critically injured, while two other children of Durgabhavani suffered injuries.
During the preliminary inquiry, it was found that Srinivas, suspect in the case, was holding a grudge against Satyavathi’s family, as the latter denied hand of their younger daughter to him, given his wayward attitude
A year ago, they married their younger daughter elsewhere and since then, Srinu was reportedly quarreling with the family often. Recently on January 17, learning that the family’s younger daughter came to visit the family for the festival, Srinu went their and quarreled with the family.
In a fit of rage, he had even attacked Satyavati with a knife. Following the incident, the family lodged a complaint with Kadiyam police.
Srinu, who got angry over Satyavathi’s family approaching family is suspected to have set ablaze to the house after locking it, with an intention of murdering an entire family. Police registered a case and launched a manhunt to nab the accused.