Six persons die in fire

after a two-storied house at Manikpara near here in West Midnapore district caught fire in the wee-hours of today, police said.

The deceased have been identified a Adhin Dutta (70) a retired post master, his sons Piyush Dutta (37), Sanjit Dutta (34) daughter-in-law Anupama Dutta (34), grandson Souvik Dutta (8) and tenant Kalipada Mahato.

Adhin Dutta's wife and daughter and Kalipada Mahato's wife and daughter have been admitted to hospital with burn injuries, they said.

Police and Fire Brigade sources suspect that the fire started from the ground floor of the two-storied house located at the Manikpara main road due to some electrical short-circuit.

Sanjit Dutta used to run his cable business from the ground floor of the house and the sources suspect that the fire started from the control room of the cable operations and spread rapidly.

The local people rushed to the spot and rescued the wife and daughter of Adhin Dutta and Kalipada Mahato. The local people alleged that the Fire Brigade reached the spot more than one hour after they were informed.

Senior district and police officers including the District Magistrate Surendra Gupta and Jhargram Superintendent of police Bharati Ghosh visited the spot.