Three persons of a family including a couple and their only daughter died after allegedly setting themselves ablaze in their rented residence in HSR Layout early Friday. Police suspect financial problems as the main reason behind this extreme step.
The deceased are identified as Santosh Kumar, 52, his wife Oman Santosh and his daughter Sanusha Santosh, 17. The family lived in a rented flat on the ground floor in HSR Layout 3rd Sector. Santosh owned a manufacturing factory in Bommanahalli which supplied spare parts of electronic devices to big companies. Oman was a homemaker while Sanusha was studying in first year PUC in a private college.
Early probe suggests that the trio killed themselves by setting themselves on fire, somewhere between 5 am and 6 am, by pouring fuel (suspected to be petrol or kerosene) all over the house, including on the sofa set, curtains, blanket, bed and other places. They locked all the doors and windows before setting the fire, so no one could save them, a senior official said.
The neighbours alerted the police, and later the Fire and Emergency Services, upon noticing smoke coming from the house.
The HSR Layout police first reached the house and had a tough time breaking in. By then, the fire officials reached the spot and doused the fire, which had spread all over the ground floor. The three were charred to death on the spot.
"Bodies have been shifted to the mortuary. We are trying to contact the family members and relatives, after they come to the city, a post-mortem will be conducted and bodies will be handed over to them," a senior officer said.
Santosh came to the city in 1990 and set up the factory. He had taken loans from many people, which he was unable to clear. The family had rented the house six months ago. Neighbours reported overhearing frequent fights in the house, possibly over financial problems.
A case of abetment has been registered based on the complaint of Santosh's employee V Mohan, and further investigation is on.