Even as the death toll in Thursday's gruesome domestic fire mishap went up to six today, the city police after stitching up evidences collected in preliminary enquiries have registered a murder case suspecting the deceased head of the family Anadi Sahu (55) to be the accused.
Four persons, including three infants were charred to death on the spot late on Thursday evening when an entire room of Anadi's rental accommodation at Sector 7 of Markat Nagar here was gutted under mysterious circumstances.
While Anadi and his 15-year-old daughter Anita were rushed to the hospital with burn injuries, the deceased on the spot were identified as Anadi's niece Kuni (40) and her three minor children.
Anadi's only son Arun (23) was away at his medicine shop in the neighbourhood when the fire broke out.
"Both Anadi and his daughter Anita died today while undergoing treatment at SCB medical college and hospital. But we managed to record the dying declaration of Anita in presence of a magistrate and a medical officer", said Cuttack DCP Sanjiv Arora.
The police has also retrieved a hand note from the house, apparently written by Anadi.
"Basing on the hand note, dying declaration and a written report of Arun, we firmly suspect that Anadi had set fire to the room pouring kerosene on all," Arora said.
A dispute in the family over his second marriage is suspected to be immediate cause of the arsoning, Arora said.
"The fire brigade personnel and scientific team investigating into the cause of the fire has not yet submitted its report", the DCP said.
