Four members of a family were killed when their house was set on fire early on Saturday at Cheenikuzhy here.
The police arrested a person, identified as Hameed, 79, in connection with the incident. The dead were identified as his son Muhammed Faizal, Faizal’s wife, Sheeba, and their children Meher, 16, and Asna, 13.
The police suspect dispute over property as the motive for the crime. They said Hameed set on fire the house when his son and family were asleep. The incident took place after midnight.
One of the children called a neighbour, who broke open the front door of the house. He saw Hameed throwing bottles filled with petrol after closing all doors from outside. The family members were trapped in the bathroom after smoke filled the house.
The police said, as per initial reports, the family members could not breath as smoke spread inside the house as the ventilators too were closed from outside. Hameed had planned to kill the entire family members living on 75 cents.
Hameed had left the house after the death of his wife and returned to the family recently. There was a dispute over the property with his son.
The police and forensic experts reached the spot and the bodies were shifted for postmortem examination. The police said the family members were trapped inside the house and there were no injury marks on the bodies.
Hameed did the act after closing all escape routes and blocking even the ventilators, the police said.
