Daughter-in-law, grandchildren of former Congress MP die in a fire in Warangal

Warangal: Congress party's MP candidate Siricilla Rajaiah's daughter-in-law Sarika and her three sons Abhinav, Ayan and Sriyan were found dead in the early hours of Wednesday. Sarika allegedly burnt herself along with her sons by turning on the gas in their kitchen and lighting a fire.

Thick smoke was seen emerging from the first floor of Rajaiah's residence in revenue colony in Hanamkonda at about 4:30am. All four of them were burnt to death by the time the fire engines arrived at the scene for rescue operations.

However, the police are yet to ascertain if this is a case murder or a suicide.

Read: Congress upbeat, says all leaders back Sircilla Rajaiah

Earlier too, Sarika had allegedly tried to commit suicide in March last year and had filed a case of dowry against the lawmaker’s family and her husband Anil Kumar. She had even staged a sit-in outside Rajaiah’s house. Sarika had recently appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi not to give a party ticket to her father-in-law. 

Siricilla Rajaiah had been fielded by the Congress to contest in the Warangal Lok Sabha by-elections and is a former lawmaker who had contested as the sitting MP in the Warangal Lok Sabha polls in 2014 but had lost by over 3.50 lakh votes.

Following this incident, the congress party will has decided to change their candidate. Congress leader Gandra Satyanarayana said that the party will soon decide on another candidate.

Former MLA Kondeti Sridhar's name is said to be considered as the candidate. November 4 is the last day for filing in nominations.

Congress is likely to change the name of its candidate on the last day of filing nomination papers. 

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