Woman dies as house catches fire

Kamala Sahu was asleep with husband Ram Bahadur Sahu, son Dilesh and daughter Dipika.

All four had fallen unconscious due to the smoke. Her husband, a Bakery confectionary supplier, and her children, students at a local school, could be rescued in time.

But all three had sustained extensive burns.

All three of their rooms were gutted. The family was asleep in one. The other two were locked.

Police suspected that the fire started after cooking gas was pumped deliberately inside the room. Superintendent of Police Niraj Kumar Singh said: “We found a gas cylinder weighing five kg and a green gas pipe at the rear of the house. It seems that the gas was pumped inside the house to kill them. But we are yet to confirm it.”

Asked how the gas ignited, he said it will be clear only after the forensic tests. “We have called in the state forensic laboratory.”

On basis of the complaints lodged by the couple’s eldest son Ritesh, the police arrested two men this afternoon - the landlord and promoter Kashinath Jaiswal and his associate Amarnath Prasad.

Ritesh, a student of BCom, stays with a friend. The neighbours said he had shifted about three months ago.

At the Howrah District Hospital, Ram Bahadur, who had sustained almost cent percent burns, said: “About a week ago, the promoter had asked us to leave the house as he wanted to construct a building at the site. We refused and then he had threatened us with dire consequences.”

Doctors at the hospital said his condition was critical. Dipika and Dilesh are under observation.

Alaka Pande, their next-door neighbour, was the first to notice the smoke around 3.15 am and raise an alarm. “We cannot believe one