CB to probe fire incident at Varkala that killed five

The police have decided to hand over the case relating to the death of five people in a massive blaze that ripped through a house near Varkala a year ago to the District Crime Branch (CB).

Dalavapuram native Prathapan, his wife Sherly, their youngest son Ahil, daughter-in-law Abhirami and her son Ryan had died in the tragedy that struck the family on March 8 last year. Abhirami’s husband Nihul, the second of Prathapan’s three sons, survived the fire.

While both the police and the Fire and Rescue Services had ruled out the possibility of sabotage, the investigations could not arrive at a conclusive finding regarding the source of the fire.