Fire at Dalit family’s home in MP that killed two teenagers takes communal turn now; ‘love jihad’ allegations surface
Muslim youth Sonu was allegedly stalking and troubling the family’s 20-year-old daughter.
Updated on: 15 Dec 2025, 10:14 pm
BHOPAL: A fateful blaze at a Dalit family’s house in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, which killed two teenage boys, has taken a communal turn ten days after the incident.
Activists related to various Hindu outfits reached out to a charitable trust hospital in Sagar city on Monday, alleging that the fire at the house in Chandamau village on the intervening night of December 4-5 was ignited by Muslim youth Fahim Khan alias Sonu.
Sonu was allegedly stalking and troubling the family’s 20-year-old daughter.
The victim’s family members, including the mother and her elder daughter, supported the allegations of the activists in the saffron outfits.
The elder daughter, a 23-year-old young woman, is currently recuperating from 60 per cent burn injuries at the same hospital, where her 17-year-old brother died on Sunday night.
The mother-daughter duo alleged that Fahim Khan, who resides in the same village, was regularly troubling the younger daughter, and on being asked by the family to stay away from her, Fahim had threatened to kill the entire family.
The elder of the two daughters, who is hospitalised, claimed that she had seen Fahim running away from near their house just when the blaze was triggered.
While alleging it to be a ‘Love Jihad’ incident, the Hindu outfit members demanded that a case be registered against Fahim, followed by his arrest.
When the incident took place, the elder daughter and her two brothers, aged 14 and 17, were present in the house. Their father, mother and their younger daughter were away when the killer blaze happened.
While the 14-year-old younger son died the same night, his 17-year-old elder brother died at the charitable trust hospital in Sagar city ten days later on Sunday night.
Based on the initial police investigations, which suggested that the fire was suspected to have been caused by a kind of ‘negligence’, a fire-related case was registered at the Naryawali police station on December 5.
But, with the mother and elder daughter now accusing the Muslim youth of setting their house ablaze, the cops have started a fresh probe into the entire matter.
“A team led by the sub-divisional officer police (SDOP) was sent to the concerned village, and a fresh probe is underway to cover all possible angles in the case, particularly following the recent statements of the family members”, Sagar district police superintendent Vikas Kumar Sahwal said on Monday.
Sources privy to the ongoing probe confided to TNIE that the SC family’s younger daughter was regularly talking with the Muslim youth. Her family had caught her talking to him over the phone, after which he was asked to stay away from her.
While the mother and elder daughter are alleging that Fahim had set their house on fire, the younger daughter and father are not blaming him for the inferno.
Ongoing probe also suggests that Fahim had only helped the family to rush the severely burnt teenage brothers and their elder sister to the hospital.
