Wife, 3 kids of Gulf NRI burnt to death

Four members of a Gulf Indian expatriate’s family have been found burnt to death in their house in Balussery near Kozhikode, Kerala on Sunday morning, while the head of the family was away on a business trip.

In a case of suspected family suicide, wife and children of Shihab of Thudiyangal - 30-year-old Naseela, three-year old twin girls Tasva and Neshwa, 12-year-old Henna Fathima - were found charred to death, according to Indian media reports.

Kerala Police is investigating the case and initial reports indicate that the family members committed suicide. According to one report quoting Kerala Police, they set themselves on fire at 1am India time on Sunday.

Shihab went home to Kerala for Eid and had reportedly gone to New Delhi on business when the tragedy happened.

The four dead bodies were found in the bedroom, with the two girls in embrace.  The house was locked from inside, according to India media reports.

Neighbours tried to break the kitchen door down to rescue the family but by the time they entered the house, all the four members of the family had been charred to death. The house has also been partially burnt.

The elder girl was studying in fifth standard and the twin girls were in nursery.

“Naseela had called her brother and in-laws living in her husband’s ancestral home asking somebody to come to their home as one of her daughters was unwell. The husband had reportedly gone to Delhi on business,” said a source from the neighbourhood.

Naseela’s relatives asked a person living nearby to go and check on the family and he found smoke and fire coming from the locked house.

Neighbours of the NRI family said the couple was on good terms.

The dead bodies were later shifted to Kozhikode Medical College for postmortem.

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