JOIN USA feud over electing the president of the school development and management committee (SDMC) resulted in an attempt to burn all three members of a family at Sirur village of the taluk in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Yellappa Sanjeev Gali, 52, his son Basavaraj Gali, 24, and Yellappa’s daughter-in-law Shanta sustained serious burns in the incident and are now battling for life. They were taken to Miraj in Maharashtra for treatment. Shanta is five months pregnant.
The condition of Yellappa and Shanta is said to be critical with 70 per cent burns, according to doctors.
Police have taken Ramappa Kadivala, his sons - Basavaraj Kadivala, Siddappa Kadivala, Mallappa Kadivala, Sakrappa Kadivala - and their servant Lakshmana Hanamappa Gali into custody for questioning.
It is alleged that the children of Ramappa, having decided to eliminate Gali’s family, first tied an electric wire around the house where the Galis resided, at 1 am when everyone was fast asleep. They poured petrol over the house, set it afire, locked the house from outside and fled.
On seeing their house on fire, they cried for help.
The neighbours rushed there and called the Hescom office, asking the personnel to disconnect power supply to the house. Later, they broke open the door, barged and rescued the family members.
The Kadivala and Gali families had a dispute over choosing the chief of the SDMC of the government primary school at the Ashraya Colony in the village. Siddappa Kadivala, a teacher in the same school, had been suspended on charges of locking up the headmistress and assaulting her recently. He had considered the election of the SDMC chief a prestige issue. Siddappa is mainly responsible for the act, police said.