Chennai: Army officer's wife, parents charred in ECR car fire

Chennai: Police identified the victims of the car fire accident off East Coast Road near Mahabalipuram on Saturday night as members of the same family and residents of Chromepet in Chennai. Victims include newlywed, J Divya Sri (24), an engineering graduate and wife of an officer in the Indian Army and her parents - Jeyadevan (52) and Ramadevi (50), police said.

The family was said to have been driving in their hatchback to Puducherry when the vehicle caught fire near Manamai between Mahabalipuram and Kalpakkam around 9 pm. Jeyadevan, who was driving the car, had steered it towards a gated residential plot off the main road, where the car caught fire. “It is not clear as to why the trio did not get off the car immediately after smoke emanated from the vehicle and drove the car to the residential plot, which is about 100 metres off the main road,” an investigating official said.

Police personnel traced the car registration from the vehicle chassis and traced the identity of the victims. Neighbours directed the police personnel to their in-laws, who reside in Velachery. Divya Sri’s husband, Sharath is a Captain in the Indian Army and is based in  Pathankot, police sources said. They had got married in December last year.

The couple had visited the city recently to check on Sharath’s mother, who was suffering from an ailment, police said. “On Saturday, Sharath did not accompany his wife and in-laws for some reason”, an official quoted him as saying.

“Preliminary investigations suggest an electric short circuit would have triggered the fire. However, further enquiries are to be made,” a senior police officer told DC. Jeyadevan was an auditor while his wife Ramadevi was a retired schoolteacher. The family hailed from Palakkad in Kerala.

Police said that they have informed Jeyade--van’s relatives in Bengaluru. Mamallapuram Police have registered a case and are investigating.