Miner Shantaiah was in a live-in relationship with a Padma, after which his son allegedly harbored a grudge against him.
UPDATE – 11:57 PM, SAT – DECEMBER 17 22
Shanthaiah, Shivaiah and Padma (file photo).
Venkatapura (Mancherial): Six people, including two children, were tragically killed in a midnight fire in Venkatapur, with mounting evidence pointing to the murder angle and police suspecting an illicit extramarital affair in the form of a cohabitation relationship as the motive.
An affair between Shanigarapu Shanthaiah, a coal miner from Srirampur, and Masu Shivaiah’s wife Padma allegedly prompted the gruesome act of arson by Shanthaiah’s relatives, according to locals and police sources. Shanthaiah became friends with Padma in 2012 and they had an illicit relationship which Shivaiah reportedly accepted and slowly became a cohabitation relationship. However, this has drawn the ire of Shanthaiah’s relatives, including his legal wife and her son.
Shanthaiah lived with Padma and Shivaiah for a long time in Venkatapur in tile-roofed huts made of cement bricks and wooden pillars. Unhappy with this, his wife Srujana filed divorce proceedings in the Family Court in 2012. The matter is still pending in court. One of Shanthaiah’s sons had a dispute with Shanthaiah a few days ago over the transfer of his job under the dependent employment program and the transfer of his property to his legal heirs.
Shanthaiah, a native of Uthkur village in Luxettipet, who works in the RK6 underground mine in Srirampur, was allegedly pressured by Padma to give the job to her son Sandeep, as he was reluctant to transfer the job and assets to his legal heir. Shanthaiah will retire in a year or two.
Police suspect Shanthaiah’s legal heir, who harbors a grudge, may be behind the suspected murder. Preliminary evidence suggests that the perpetrators locked the cabin and doused it with a highly flammable substance before setting it on fire around 12.30am while all six people were sleeping inside.
On behalf of the government, the government whip Barkasuman, who was present at the scene, pledged full support to the families of the victims.
The actual reason is unknown: the official
Fire and rescue service officials said the true cause of the fire had yet to be determined and there were strong suspicions that it might have been an act of arson. District fire officer B Ajay Kumar told Telangana Today that no source of fire was found and the cause of the fire was unknown. As of now, it’s called arson. The lodge’s residents would have survived had it been a natural fire, which would not have spread so quickly, he said, saying shorts in lights and electrical circuits suspected to have sparked the fire earlier had been ruled out by initial inquiries.
The central control room received an emergency call from locals at 1:40 a.m., the official said. A fire truck from Bellampally Fire Station was dispatched to the village. The vehicle traveled to Jenda Venkatapur due to loss of communication. He said when it reached Venkatapur, the fire was fully burnt and spreading. Fire officials suspected that the fire was more rapid and relatively rapid than a natural fire due to the addition of fuel or some kind of flammable substance. They observed that the concrete wall could burn for two hours, but six people were burned alive before they realized they were trapped in the flames. Neighbors tried unsuccessfully to extinguish the flames and rescue residents, they said.
Padma’s parents lucky to escape
For elderly couple Bathula Lingaiah and Kamala, it was a lucky escape from the midnight blaze that claimed the lives of six people, including their daughter Padma. They woke up Saturday to a call from a police officer telling them of the deaths of Padma and her husband Shivaya.
Lingaiah, a 77-year-old daily wage worker from Mallampet village in the Kotapalli mandal, and his mentally ill wife Kamala felt insulted and left their home after being reprimanded by Padma for chewing tobacco and spitting on a wall on Friday night. On Friday night, they went to the home of their nephew Banaiah in the same village.
“I have been with Padma for the past few months, helping them grow corn, red beans and other crops. She reprimanded me for spitting on the wall around 5pm. I was humiliated and left her house immediately. We went to Banaiah’s house and slept there. If we stayed with our daughter, we would die,” Lingaiah told Telangana Today.
A visit to an aunt’s house can be fatal for a widow
Meanwhile, Padma’s niece Nemalikonda Mounika, a 24-year-old widow from Kondampet village in the Kotapalli mandal, had just arrived in Venkatapur five days ago. She and her daughters Himabindu (4 years old) and Sweety (2 years old) visit Padma after a long time. Mounika’s husband Jagan died of illness a year ago. Her parents died 10 years ago. However, the visit turned out to be ill-fated, and both Munica and the two children were burned to death.
Mounika plans to celebrate Himabindu’s fifth birthday on December 25, a relative said.
