Woman immolates self, kids

LUCKNOW - Depressed over her poor financial condition, a woman set herself and her two minor sons on fire in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district Tuesday, police said.

Madhuri, 32, set herself afire along with her two sons - Shubham, 8, and Sumit, 3 - inside her home in the Maghwari village of Jalalpur town, some 200 km from Lucknow.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that poor financial conditions drove the women to take the extreme step,” police inspector Paramhans Tiwari told reporters in Jaunpur.

“We learnt that Madhuri’s husband had lost his job a few days back and she used to tell her neighbours that she would kill herself and her two sons if the financial condition did not improve,” he added.

According to the police, some neighbours noticed smoke billowing out of Madhuri’s home. But by the time they managed to enter the house, all three had died.