Six persons, including three children, were burnt to death at Mugatageri village in Ponnampet Police Station limits of Kodagu district early on Saturday.
The police said the accused, identified as Boja, 50, a labourer, set fire to the house where his wife, daughter, grandchildren and others were asleep, around 2 a.m.
Frequent fights
The police said Boja’s wife Bebi, 40, who was fed up with the frequent fights he used to have with her in a drunken state, had come to her daughter’s house on Friday.
Though she wanted to leave on Friday night, her daughter asked her to stay overnight. But Boja, who was looking for his wife, arrived at his daughter’s house late in the night.
“He went to the roof of the house using a ladder, removed the tiles, poured kerosene and lit a fire,” said a police official.
As the doors of the house were bolted, the victims suffered serious burns when the house caught fire.
Superintendent of Police, Kodagu, Kshama Mishra said three victims, including a six-year-old child, died on the spot. Three others died at a hospital in Mysuru.
Neighbours had to break into the house to rescue those who suffered serious burns. Two more persons who suffered serious burns are undergoing treatment at K.R. Hospital in Mysuru.
The police have formed a team to trace the accused. Prima facie, the provocation for the act was a “family dispute”. But, more details would emerge during the investigation, the police said.
