Six people, including four children, were burnt alive after a man in an inebriated state set fire to the room in which they were sleeping after dousing it with petrol, at Mugutageri in Ponnampet on Saturday.
The man committed the crime following a dispute with his wife, the police said. Three of the victims were charred to death while the rest succumbed to injuries in a hospital in Mysuru.
The suspect, identified as Eravara Boja (45), is related to the victims. He allegedly set fire to the room in a house belonging to coffee grower Kolera Chityappa when the victims were asleep. He is said to have used a ladder to reach the roof and pour petrol into the room after removing the 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.
After committing the crime, he fled the spot.
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 spot.