Tirupati police solves mystery behind series of fire incidents in Kotha Sanambatla

TIRUPATI: The Tirupati district police have arrested a girl and solved the mystery behind a series of fire incidents in Kothasanambatla village under the Chandragiri constituency.

In recent days, the village was caught in the grip of a fear over suspected black magic.

The 19-year-old girl deliberately caused the fires with the objective to change her mother's attitude and to oust some individuals from the village who influenced her mother's way of life, police said.

ASP Venkata Rao told the media on Tuesday that the police chargesheeted the girl, P Keerthi of the same village, under sections 435 and 506 of the IPC. Cops recovered Rs 30,000 in cash from her. This, after she initially claimed that the money was burned down in a fire she set to the almirah at her home.

"The girl had failed in the intermediate exams and has been studying at home for the supplementary exams. During this period, the girl was agitated over her mother's behaviour and set fire to the almirah in her house. She went on to set fire to the houses of those who influenced her mother's behaviour," the ASP said.

The ASP said the girl admitted she set fire to 12 houses on her own. A forensic lab analysis also proved that no chemicals were used in these fire incidents. “All these fire accidents were directly caused by (an) individual. There is no involvement of evil spirits or black magic,” the ASP said and urged the villagers to live without any fear.

SP Parameswara Reddy appreciated the works of Chandragiri DSP TD Yaswanth, CI Obulesu and other police personnel towards cracking the mystery.