Who or what ignited the fire that killed four people in Laljhoda, Shivasatakshi Municipality-7 in Jhapa remains a mystery, five days after the incident.

Though the Area Police Office in Jhiljhile is looking into the incident, police are still clueless about the cause of the fire. Police Inspector Kailash Rai said, “We are investigating whether the incident is premeditated or natural.”

On Sunday night, four people from the same family were charred to death when fire engulfed the house in Laljhoda. Laljhoda settlement residents live in fear after the incident. Family of the deceased claims the act of arson is premeditated.  The blaze reduced the two-storey wooden house to ashes. Laxman Khanal, 34, his wife Radhika, 29, their four-year-old daughter Chandra and five-month-old son Tikaram perished in the inferno.

Laxman’s father Ram Krishna says his son was murdered. “The body of my son was found with his hands tied behind his back. The evidence proves he was killed and the house deliberately burnt,” said Ram Krishna.

The younger brother of the deceased Binod Khanal said there was no hearth for cooking in the ground floor. “How could the house get engulfed in flames from all sides at once?” he asked, suspecting that someone might have killed the entire family using petrol or diesel.

Nepali Congress Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma said the incident is suspicious. Sharma met the family of the deceased on Wednesday and demanded a fair probe into the incident. According to police, the fire broke out at night while the victims were asleep.

Villagers said Laxman had stored around 40 litres of diesel in the house to run threshing machine for harvesting paddy. Police said the fire engulfed the house quickly because of the diesel stored in the house.