Woman kills husband, four kids and self in Delhi's Zakir Nagar
The police have recovered a bottle of kerosene oil from the spot and suspect that the woman locked the room from inside, placing herself near the door, to stop her family from getting out of the apartment to save their lives.
Six members of a family were charred to death in their one-room apartment in South Delhi's Zakir Nagar area in the wee hours of Thursday.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that a 30-year-old woman set herself and her family- her husband and four children- on fire after sedating them to ensure they do not scream.
The police have recovered a bottle of kerosene oil from the spot and suspect that the woman locked the room from inside, placing herself near the door, to stop her family from getting out of the apartment to save their lives.
The incident occurred at house number 786 in Zakir Nagar, which comes under the jurisdiction of Jamia Nagar police station, which received a call around 1.30 am.
"After receiving the call, two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and it took around 30 minutes for them to douse the fire. The house where the fire broke out belonged to one Firoz (35), who lived with his wife Yasmin (32), four children- Afroz (12), Afreen (11), Aamir (4) and Asif (7)," a senior police official said. The police added that Firoz's brother, Parvez Alam, had unsuccessfully fought the civic elections on RJD's ticket last time.
While Yasmin and Afreen died at the spot; Firoz, Afroz and Asif succumbed to their injuries during treatment. Aamir, who was critical and battling for life at a hospital with 60 per cent burn injuries, also sucummed to his injuries on Thursday night.
The police have started their investigation to ascertain the exact cause of fire and are questioning their neighbours, who claim to have heard no scream or distress call from the house and rushed to save the family only after seeing the flames.
The landlord of the house, Athar Hassan, said, "The door was locked from inside. We broke the window and began throwing in water. I even broke the water tank on the terrace with a hammer.
Initial investigation has further revealed that Firoz, while making his dying declaration, told the police that when he woke up, he heard his children screaming saw they were all engulfed in fire. The police said the woman was suffering from depression. Victim Firoz owned a small embroidery factory in the area and had recently purchased a flat worth Rs 7 lakh nearby, where the family from Bihar was supposed to shift on Sunday.