In a tragic incident, six members of a family including a mother in her five children were burnt alive in sleep as the hut they were living in caught fire.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday night in Urdha village under the Ramkola police station area.
Police said the fire broke out in a hut at midnight. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
The police confirmed the death of the mother and her five children in the blaze.
As soon as information about the tragedy was received, District Magistrate Ramesh Ranjan, Superintendent of Police Dhawal Jaiswal and ASP Ritesh Kumar Singh rushed to the spot.
The deceased are identified as Sangeeta (38), her children, Ankit (10), Laxmina (9), Rita (3), Geeta (2) and one-year-old Babu.
Father of the children, Suraj , who was not in the hut when the fire broke out, was being interrogated by the police.