In a shocking incident in Kushinagar, a man set his wife and two children on fire after a tiff over his drinking habit.

The third son somehow saved himself by hiding in another room.

The incident took place on Friday and the wife succumbed on the way to hospital while both children are battling for their lives with more than 70 per cent burn injuries. Both have been admitted to Gorakhpur Medical College hospital.

The accused is absconding.

Reports said that Ramsumajh Sahani had a tiff with his wife, Subhawati, over his consuming liquor after which he set her and their two children, Mushkar (11), Arun (4), on fire. Subhawati died while both children were critically injured. The third child Ankit somehow saved himself.

Local police claimed to have launched a hunt for the accused.

The incident took place in Fard Mundera village under Kaptanganj police station of Kushinagar district.

The local residents claimed that the accused used to spend all his earnings on alcohol and after his wife raised an objection, he set her and his children on fire

In Sultanpur, a 25-year-old man was beaten to death in Katka Khanpur market area, police said on Friday.

The incident took place around 10:30 pm on Thursday. Some unidentified people beat him up leading to his death, Gosaiganj police station incharge Sandeep Kumar Rai said. Rai said the man, identified as Prabhakar Mishra, was addicted to alcohol for a long time. It is learnt that he had an altercation with the owner of a factory in the vicinity over some minor issue

Meanwhile, the blood-soaked body of a 17-year-old boy with his throat slit was found in a field along the roadside in Deoria city on Friday morning. Prima facie, it appeared that he had been brutally murdered by slitting his throat with a sharp weapon. The accused had also chopped off the fingers of the boy’s hands and toes and dumped the body on the road connecting Sutavar to Chaumukha.

Police registered a murder case. Superintendent of Police Sankalp Sharma expressed suspicion that the victim was murdered by someone close to him. The deceased, identified as Rehman (17), was a resident of Lar town and used to help his father in a grocery shop located in the area.

Rehman had left the house on a bike on Thursday night. Police recovered the motorcycle from the Mile area. Further investigations are on.

Meanwhile the bodies of two unidentified youths were found lying in a pit near Manaupur village under Haiderganj police station in Ayodhya. The police started the investigation and sent both the bodies for autopsy.

Later, the deceased were identified as Manoj Modanwal and Ravi Modanwal, both residents of Sahabganj Bazar of Lalganj police station area of Pratapgarh district. Reports said that some locals, after finding the bodies, informed the police. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Atul Kumar Sonkar, CO Bikapur Manoj Kumar Yadav reached the spot for investigation. Sonkar said that no wounds were found on the bodies of the deceased. Relatives disclosed that they left the shop on Thursday morning and both the youths were friends.

Suspecting that someone threw the bodies after killing the youths, the police are scanning the recordings of CCTV cameras installed nearby. The family members claimed no enmity of both which could have lead to their murder.