Bhimavaram: 4 of family burnt alive

Bhimavaram: In horrifying incident at Kovvada village under Bhimavaram mandal in the district, four persons were burnt alive in the house in the early hours of Sunday.

The dead included Marpatla Prakasam (56), his wife Rojamani (45) and their two sons Devaraj (19) and Vamsi (13). The police suspected that a gang of unidentified culprits had poured petrol into the house through a window and set it on fire, while Prakasam and his family members were deep in sleep. The flames spread quickly and all those in the house were consumed by fire.

Initially it was thought that the fire had broken out accidently. But the police, after examining the scene of offence, concluded that it was a case of arson.

Prakasam used to overseas employment agency to send workers to in Gulf countries and those interested in working in those countries. It is suspected that a dispute arising out of his job could have led to the ghastly incident. The police are also investigating whether the alleged disputes in the family, particularly with his son-in-law Ravi, was behind the incident.

Ravi and his wife Divya are presently in Bhimavaram on a holiday and police suspect Ravi's role into the incident, Reddy said.

The SP visited the spot this morning with other police officials, police said, adding the bodies were sent for postmortem to a government hospital in Bhimavaram.