A 28-year-old woman and her young son were charred to death after a fire, caused by an electrical short circuit, broke out at their home in Jothi Nagar, Chitlapakkam here on Saturday morning.
Raja (35) and his wife Ananthi, hailed from Madurai. Raja runs a mobile eatery opposite the St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union office on Chitlapakkam Third Main Road. The couple had two children — a daughter Rithika, living with Ananthi's parents in Madurai, and a two-and-a-half-year-old son Sanjeevi Krishnan who was living with them.
The family rented a portion on the first floor of a house in Jothi Nagar, police said. On Saturday, Raja left for work at 6 a.m. Later in the day, a neighbour rushed in and told him of the fire. Raja hurried home to find his wife and son charred to death. The bodies were taken to the Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital for post-mortem.
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Neighbours said the incident came to light when Chitra, living next door to Ananthi, knocked on her door and panicked as the door was hot to the touch and there was no response. Police said Ananthi, after fetching drinking water from a public tap on the street, had gone to her home. Her son had reportedly pulled the pedestal fan's power supply cables, resulting in an electrical short circuit. Ananthi tried to rescue her son, but both of them sustained critical injuries and died.