india

Updated: Oct 20, 2019 18:38 IST

Police on Sunday arrested a man and his wife for allegedly burning his 78-year-old father to death in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district on Saturday night over a property dispute, officials said.

Narayan Mallik and his wife Tanushree allegedly poured kerosene on Haripada Mallik while he was asleep and set him on fire in Geonkhali area of Mahishadal, around 110 kilometres from state capital Kolkata.

“There was a dispute over property between Haripada Mallik and his eldest son Narayan. They used to live in different places. We have arrested Narayan and his wife on murder charge,” East Midnapore’s superintendent of police, Soloman Neshakumar, said.

Haripada Mallik used to live in his own house at Betkundu village while Narayan lives in Gopalchak, an adjacent hamlet. Narayan and his wife poured kerosene on Haripada through an open window and set the old man on fire on Saturday night, police said.

“Local people noticed the flames and rushed to Mallik’s house. They spotted Narayan and his wife running away. We poured water and doused the flames but Haripada had already suffered severe burns,” a resident of Betkundum, Dipak Mallik, said.

“He was taken to the local hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival,” Dipak added.

Police took Mallik’s body and sent it for a post mortem examination.