AN elderly man in India burned to death his son, daughter-in-law and their two teenage children, Makkal Osai reported.

       Hameed, 79, had constantly been getting into arguments with his son Muhammad Faisal, 45, over some property.

       He lived with his son’s family in Idukki district, Kerala.

       On Friday night, Faisal, his wife Shiffa, 45, and daughters Mehar, 16, and Hasna, 14, went to bed at around 10pm.

       Hameed proceeded to lock the door of their room from the outside.

       He then poured petrol and set the room on fire.

       The four victims were woken up by the heat but they could not escape as the door was locked.

       Apparently, Hameed waited for their screams and desperate pleas to die down before calling his relatives and confessing to what he had done.

       The shocked relatives contacted the man’s neighbours and the authorities, who rushed to the scene, put out the fire and retrieved the burnt remains of the family.

       Hameed was arrested for the merciless killing.

       ● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.