Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A 45-year-old woman locked herself and four daughters inside a room and set it on fire, fortunately all of them were saved in the nick of time, said police on Tuesday. The woman, however, denied attempting suicide along with her daughters claiming that grass kept inside the room caught fire because of ‘unknown reason.’ Police have registered a case and began an investigation.
As per Ayodhya Nagar police the woman identified as Sangeeta Prajapati and her daughters were safely brought out of the room. All five have been admitted to Hamidia hospital.
Woman’s husband Devnarayan works as a gardener. The couple has four daughters, aged 22, 18, 14 and 12. The family resides in a three-storey building in Ayodhya Nagar
Their neighbours told police that Sangeeta had a heated argument with her husband on Monday night. On Tuesday around 2pm, Sangeeta locked herself and her daughters inside a room and laid a plastic mat and set it on fire allegedly to kill herself and daughters, said an officer investigating the case. When the neighbours noticed smoke billowing out of the house, they informed her husband, also the police and the fire station, he added.
Five fire tenders rushed to the spot and doused the blaze.
The police personnel rushed inside the building and broke the door open, to evacuate all the family members safely. All of them were then referred to Hamidia hospital for treatment.
Sangeeta sustained burns on her legs and hands. In her statements to the police on Tuesday evening, the woman refuted to have attempted suicide claiming that she was sleeping inside the room with three of her daughters, while her eldest daughter had gone to the terrace to pick up clothes.
During this, the grass kept near the cooler caught fire due to unknown reasons and the fire spread to the entire room, the woman said in her statement.
She also turned down claims of an argument with her husband. A police probe is underway in the case, the investigating officials said.
