No one survived the incident, the reason behind which is said to be the alleged illicit relations of the wife with a youth of Kala Sanghia. (Representational Image)
A man, who returned from Jordan late on Wednesday, allegedly set himself and his family ablaze at around 4 am Thursday in Alamgeer Mohalla of Kala Sanghia town in Kapurthala district. No one survived the incident, the reason behind which is said to be the alleged illicit relations of the wife with a youth of Kala Sanghia. Police have now booked four persons in this case, including a woman for blackmailing the family using purported ‘objectionable’ videos and photos of the woman.
The man who had set himself and his family on fire has been identified as Kulwinder Singh (35), who had returned from Jordan without informing his family that he was coming home. Kulwinder died on the spot, while his 5-year old son, Abhi, and 8-year old daughter, Sonal, died on the way to hospital. His wife, Mandeep Kaur (30), was referred to civil hospital Jalandhar where she died in the afternoon and recorded her dying declaration.
It is learnt that Kulwinder was informed on phone by someone that his wife had developed illicit relations with a youth Gurpreet Singh alias Sunny of their area and a video as well as photographs of both in compromising condition were taken by another youth. Now four persons including mother of Sunny were blackmailing the woman, he was told.
After knowing all this, the man returned unannounced and committed the crime, said police sources, adding that he set the room on fire when everyone was asleep. Mandeep Kuar in her dying statement to police before the magistrate admitted that room was set on fire by her husband because he was upset over harassment at the hands of some youths. Jaswinder Kaur, sister of Kulwinder who also sustained burn injuries while she tried to save her brother’s family, told police that everything was normal till last night and all went to sleep and then early morning she heard the shrieks from her house and ran towards her brother’s room which was ablaze.
SHO, Sadar police station, Sarwan Singh Ball said that the man had come to know about the purported objectionable videos and photos of the woman. He said that four persons have been booked in this case including Gurpreet Singh alias Sunny, Balkar Singh, Tirath Singh and Satya Devi, mother of Sunny, under section 306 and 34 IPC. Police is conducting raids to nab the accused.