Nellore, September 22: IN the wee hours of Tuesday a little girl was burnt to death in Isukapalli village in Nellore district. Local villagers said it was a case of a suicide pact that did not go as planned: in a fit of despair, a woman tried to kill herself and her two daughters, but her husband rescued her and one of the two children but could not save Swathi, a baby of two and a half years.
There were, however, conflicting versions to this story.
Relatives of the family said it was an accident. According to them, the fire was caused when a lamp fell over in the dark of night.
Villagers of Isukapalli, 90 lm from Nellore town, said Swathi’s parents, K Prasad and Sumalatha, had had a bitter quarrel last night. Driven to despair, Sumalatha poured kerosene on herself and her two daughters, Spandana and Swathi, and struck a match. Prasad managed to rescue Sumalatha and Spandana but could not save Swathi. The couple rushed her to a hospital in Kondapur where she was declared her brought dead with 90 per cent burns.
Early this morning, the couple took the body back to their village from the hospital in Kondapur and were allegedly in the process of giving the baby a quiet burial when villagers alerted the police. Police conducted a panchanama in the village, booked cases against the couple.
–Agencies