Idukki: Two houses owned by an elderly woman Annakutty and her son Jins were torched by her son-in-law in the wee hours of Sunday at Painavu here. No casualties were reported as nobody was in the houses.
Police nabbed Annakutty's son-in-law Santhosh from his hideout in Tamil Nadu.
According to police, the accused, who is the second husband of Annakutty's daughter Princy, attacked the houses to seek vengence from the family. He accused the family of forcing his wife to go to Italy. As soon as Princy reached the European country, she had sought divorce from Santhosh which also angered him, police said.
Annakutty's house was completely gutted while her son's house was partially destroyed. The plan was to kill is mother-in-law, police said.
Princy is a nurse in Italy. As Santhosh was not interested in her job, he reached Annakutty's house on June 5 and quarrelled with the family. He wanted the family to ask Princy to return home soon. Amid the commotion, he poured petrol on Annakutty and her granddaughter and set them on fire. Both are undergoing treatment at Government Medical College Hospital here. While Annakutty suffered 30 per cent burn, her granddaughter is being treated for 15 per cent burn injuries.
Later, he went absconding after leaving his child to his brother Sugathan's house. He also managed to dump his mobile phone to block police from tracing his location. After moving to hideout, he returned to Idukki on Sunday and torched the houses. Police reportedly took him into custody from Bodimettu in Tamil Nadu