One killed, three injured in Howrah fire

Kolkata (PTI): Fire in a residential house at Shibpur in Howrah district has claimed one life and left three others injured, police said.

Kamala Shaw, a resident of Shibpur, Howrha was burnt to death when flames engulfed her house in the late hours on Wednesday.

Her husband Bahadur, son Dinesh and daughter Dipika received burns and all of them were rushed to Howrah General Hospital where the condition of two of them was stated to be very serious, the police said.

Howrah superintendent of Police Neeraj Kumar Singh said "Senior officers have gone to the spot. Let the forensic and post mortem reports come in, only then we will be able to ascertain the exact cause of the fire".

Local residents alleged that a local promoter and proprietor of the house was threatening the family for quite some time to vacate the property so that he could construct flats on that land.

"He threatened my father and my sister several times and when we denied to give in, he set the house ablaze", Bahadur's eldest son, Ritesh who was at his friend's place on Wednesday night, said.

" A gas cylinder and a pipe were found behind the house and the pipe had an opening inside our room through a drain. We don't have a gas in our family so how did it come there"? Ritesh asked.

When asked about the cylinder and the pipe, Singh said the police were examining all the aspects. "If anyone is found guilty, he will not be spared".