A couple and their three daughters died in a blaze at their hutment in North Dinajpur district on Friday night.

Residents suspect that Ram Bhowmik, 40, set the house on fire when his family members were asleep and then committed suicide in the blaze as he was in economic distress for the past few days.

Officials of the district administration and police, however, have not confirmed the theory.

On Friday night, residents of Bharatpur village in Hemtabad found the hutment of Ram, who was a motorised van rickshaw puller, in flames.

“We tried to help the family members but could not enter the hutment because of the intensity of the fire. After some time, we found Rani, 12, Ram’s elder daughter, somehow coming out of the hutment. She had severe burn injuries. We rushed her to Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital where she succumbed,” said Sajidur Rehman, a villager.

While Rani was being taken to the hospital, she reportedly told the villagers that her father had sprinkled kerosene oil on them while they were asleep and then set the house on fire.

Police sources said Ram, his wife Shankari, 32, and their younger daughters Parana, 7 and Saraswati, 4, died on the spot.

Kajal Bhowmik, a relative of the victims, said for the past few days Ram could not earn enough to run his family as Covid safety restrictions were imposed across the state.

“He used to carry people to Hemtabad and adjoining areas from our village. He was not getting adequate passengers afterthe recent restrictions were imposed, because of which he was depressed. We, however, never thought that he would take such a drastic step,” Kajal added.

On Saturday afternoon, Arvind Kumar Mina, the district magistrate, Sumit Kumar, North Dinajpur police chief, and other senior officials visited Bharatpur village. They spoke to the villagers to gather information about the family.

Mina, when told about the villagers’ claim that the family had been undergoing economic crisis, said the administration was taking efforts to ensure that needy people across the district receive aid under different state welfare schemes.

“Whatever has happened is unfortunate. The police are probing the case and we cannot comment on it right now. But if the incident is a fallout of an economic crisis, we will take steps to ensure that free ration and other benefits from the state government under different social welfare schemes are extended to all needy people in the district,” the district magistrate added.

The police said the charred bodies had been sent for post-mortem and a probe was on.