Couple charred to death after hut catches fire in Chhattisgarh

A couple was burnt to death after their thatched hut caught fire while they were sleeping inside it in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, a police official said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday in Jamirapat village under Samri police station limits, he said.

After harvesting their paddy crop, the couple had kept it at a place close to their home for threshing and erected a thatched hut nearby so that they could stay there to protect their produce, he said.

“The evidence from the spot suggests the couple had set up a bonfire in order to beat the cold on Sunday night. They might have slept without dousing the flames and the hut caught the blaze probably due to a spark caused by the bonfire. The fire further spread to the harvested paddy kept nearby," the official said.

On seeing the flames, some locals raised an alarm and the couple's son and others rushed there.

By then, the victim woman, identified as Vijay Bada (55), was charred to death, while her husband, Mariyanus Bada (57), had suffered serious burns, the official said.

He was rushed to a local hospital from where he was shifted to a medical college and hospital in neighbouring Ambikapur.

In view of his critical condition, he was being taken to Raipur, but he succumbed on the way on Monday, the official said.

A case has been registered in connection with the incident, he added.