The room that was set on fire at the Burman residence. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Aug. 8: A woman and her daughter drowned last night after she jumped into the pond with the child, allegedly after a quarrel with her husband. Her brother-in-law also died when he dived in to save Jayanti Burman and one-and-a-half-year-old Tumpa.

Khoribari police have detained Manindra Burman of Bhalugara, 45km from here, to question him on his wife’s death. They have started a case of unnatural death although no complaints have been filed.

The three bodies, including Manoranjan’s, have been sent for post-mortem to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

“The incident occurred around 2.30-3am,” said Siddhartha Roy, the officer-in-charge of the Kharibari police station.

Manindra said he was at a loss to explain why his 26-year-old wife did what she did last night. “She was short-tempered. Yesterday evening she went to the village market to buy vegetables. I had sent one of our neighbours after her to remind her to pay Rs 40 to a trader to whom I owed money,” Manindra, who runs a furniture shop from home, said. Back from the market, Jayanti accused her husband of being suspicious and sending somebody to keep a watch over her movements. An altercation followed and Jayanti did not cook dinner at night.

“She did not even feed our daughter. At night she slept in a separate room, the doors of which were locked from inside.

Around 2.30am, Manindra noticed fire coming out from Jayanti’s room. He jumped out of his room through the window when he noticed that the doors were locked from outside. He heard a sound of something heavy falling into water and realised that his wife had dived into the pond. His cries for help woke up the family, including Manoranjan, who rushed towards the pond adjacent to the house.

Nripen and Gopi, the other brothers of Manindra, followed him. “I saw Tumpa’s body floating. Even as I jumped in, I realised that she was dead. But till then I didn’t know that my brother had drowned and so had Tumpa’s mother,” said Nripen.

The neighbours informed the police and a searching operation started. The bodies of Manoranjan and Jayanti were fished out in the morning.

“Most villagers can swim but I think the darkness and the suddenness of the incident had shocked Manoranjan, who collapsed while swimming,” said the officer-in-charge of the Kharibari police.

Prafulla Burman, a neighbour who had come to the police station with the bodies, said Manindra’s family members were peace-loving.