6 of family burnt alive

In a gruesome incident, six members of a family, including four children and their mother, were allegedly burnt alive at Thoppuvalasai near here, on Sunday night.

The victims — Karuppaiah (50), his daughter Kalimuthu (30), wife of Kallalagar, and her children Kaliswari (12), Balamurugan (8), Saranya (5) and Sakthi (1) — were sleeping when miscreants locked their hut’s door from outside, poured kerosene and set the structure on fire.

Villagers alleged that land sharks were behind the incident and claimed that brokers had threatened the family to vacate the hut.