Konnagar, June 19: Residents went on the rampage and set fire to the furniture of a house here following a housewife’s death this morning.

Mithu Karmakar, 27, was found hanging from the ceiling of her room here in Hooghly, about 35 km from Calcutta.

“Her in-laws claimed that she committed suicide but the neighbours said she was throttled to death and then hanged from the ceiling,” district superintendent of police Suprat- im Sarkar said.

As word of the death spread, the single-storey house became the target of wrath. Mithu’s in-laws and the furniture were dragged into the courtyard. A fridge, an almirah and beds were set ablaze.

A police force led by additional superintendent Asit Pal chased away the mob and extinguished the fire. Jawans of the Rapid Action Force were deployed to defuse the tension.

Mithu’s brother-in-law Prabir, his wife Piu and her mother-in-law Saraswati were held. Prabir, who was beaten up, had to be admitted to Uttarpara State General Hospital. The husband, Pradip, an auto-rickshaw driver, is absconding.

Residents told the police the in-laws tortured her regularly and that her husband was having an affair. “Mithu was married seven years ago and her parents are dead. We have often seen her husband and mother-in-law beat her up in public,” said Samar Ghosh, a sweet shop owner in the area.

Before the neighbours were told that Mithu had committed suicide, this morning, the in-laws had brought down the body from the ceiling .