Family of four charred to death in Hooghly

Kolkata: A family of four persons was charred to death at Bandel in Hooghly on Thursday.

According to local residents, on Thursday morning, Zabeda Biwi saw smoke billowing out of her son's room at Chandanpur in Bandel.

She started screaming for help. Hearing her scream, neighbours ran to help her. Seeing the smoke, local residents broke open the door and found Zabeda's son Surat Ali's (47), his wife Rejina Biwi (33) along with their two daughters Afreen Yasmin (12) and Asiyana Khatun (5) were lying on the floor with serious burn injuries.

They were rescued immediately and rushed to Chinsurah Imambara Hospital where Surat and Khatun were declared brought dead.

Rejina and Yasmin died after a few hours at the hospital. The Bandel police station was informed by hospital authorities.

According to a source, Surat, who was a farmer by profession, had some mental illness and was under treatment. A local resident said Surat and Rejina had frequent arguments. It is suspected that one of them could have set the room on fire. But cops still don't know about what exactly happened.

Though no complaint has been lodged, the police have initiated a suo moto case in this regard. Zabeda said she smelled something pungent after the door was broken by the neighbours.

In another incident, the charred body of a woman was found on the roadside at Galsi in East Burdwan on Friday morning. Local residents spotted the body and informed the Galsi police station. Later, police recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy.

A source said parts of vehicle tyre was found at spot. It is suspected that the woman has been murdered somewhere else and her body was burnt to hide her identity.

Local resident suspected that the woman might had been killed after being raped. The identity of the deceased woman could not be established till Friday night.