N’Eliya blaze: Arson suspected
Police suspect foul play behind the recent fire that caused the deaths of a family of five in the upper part of the Ragala estate in the Ragala Police Division. Investigations regarding the deaths were underway yesterday while the postmortems were due to be conducted.
The deceased have been identified as Ramaiah Thangaiya ( 59), his wife Sivanumuttu Lechchami ( 54), their daughter Jeyakumar Nadia ( 35) and her two children. The two children who were burnt to death were two boys aged 11 and 1, Police said.
The house was completely destroyed by the fire and the bodies badly burnt.
The Magistrate had ordered the bodies be sent to the Judicial Medical Officer of the Nuwara Eliya District Hospital for an autopsy, and directed the Police to take necessary action to obtain an autopsy report.