A Dalit couple Bajjan Das and Manju Devi and their two minor children were set afire as they slept in their house in Bihar’s Ajamnagar of Katihar district on night of June 10 night, Organiser has reported.

The two daughters – five-year-old Priti and three-year-old Kiran – died inside the house, while Das and his disabled wife suffered deep burn wounds and are in a critical condition in Katihar Sadar Hospital.

According to the police, the gruesome killing is believed to be the fallout of a dispute the Mahadalit family had with some of their neighbours over land in the village Ghordah. Bajjan used to run a tea shop near a chowk in the village. Some of their neighbours had been forcing them for the past few months to vacate the land.

On Sunday night, when the entire family was asleep, the accused locked the door from outside and set the house on fire. Two accused, Abdul Rehman and his wife, have been picked up by police after preliminary investigation, and raids are on to nab the others.

Katihar SP Vikas Kumar who visited the village after the incident said, “We have picked up two suspects and a probe is on. It appears that it happened because of a festering enmity over a piece of land”.

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