Elderly couple charred to death in West Delhi as disturbed son sets house ablaze

Mangalore Today News Network

Delhi,  May 12, 2018 : An elderly couple was charred to death and their tenant injured in a fire at their home, allegedly triggered by their son, in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar early Friday, police said.

 

The tenant told the police that the elderly couple — 70-year-old Chedi Lal and his wife, Lakshmi, 63 — in their last moments said that the house was set on fire by their 40-year-old son, Santosh Gupta, who is untraceable.

Police said the missing son is the “prime suspect” in the blaze. “It would be premature to call it a murder. It could be a mischief or threat gone out of control. We will have clarity on the circumstances of the fire after we arrest and interrogate the couple’s son,” said Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (west).

But when HT visited the house on Friday, the tenant alleged the couple’s absconding son was a drug addict who was often “aggressive and abusive” towards his parents.

The officer said a case under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 436 (mischief by fire with intent to destroy house) had been registered.

He went back to rescue his wife

The house caught fire around 3am when everybody was asleep. The door dividing the house owners and tenants is usually locked on the tenants’ side. “I woke up to cries for help from my landlady. When I tried to open my door, I found it locked from outside. The landlady was shouting, saying her son had set them ablaze,” said tenant Vinay.

“When I came out of the burning house, I found Santosh running away. I tried to call him out, but he ran,” Vinay alleged.

The charred house of the elderly couple who were killed after a fire broke out in their house at Sudarshan Park near Moti Nagar in New Delhi on Friday.

At the burning home, Chedi Lal was able to come out initially but found his wife trapped inside and went back. “I saw Lal returning to his home to rescue his wife, who is diabetic and moves with help. But Lal was unable to escape again because of an explosion in the refrigerator’s compressor,” said Asma Khatoon, a neighbour.

The fire tenders were delayed by 15 minutes because of the narrow streets and haphazard parking, a fire department official said. “By the time the fire fighters reached the spot, the couple was already dead. Their bodies were found a feet from each other,” said an investigator.

Psychiatric issues

The couple owned a flat in a multi-storey building in Sudershan Park in Moti Nagar and rented out a portion.

They had nine children. Locals said that over the past 12 years, the couple had lost four children – three sons and one daughter. Of them, three died natural deaths and one son was murdered.

Of the five surviving children – three sons and two daughters — four live with their families elsewhere in the city.

The couple lived with Santosh, who was under medication for psychiatric issues, the DCP said.

According to family and local residents, Santosh did not work. “He would often beat my parents if they questioned him or refused to give money for drugs. Because of his demand, my parents ran a snacks cart despite their age,” said Santosh’s brother, Pritam.


courtesy:HT