Joda/Keonjhar: In a shocking incident, a man deliberately set his in-laws' house on fire while the family members were sleeping in Champua in Odisha's Keonjhar district on Tuesday. The people trapped inside, including his wife, two and half year-old daughter and his parents in-law, somehow had a miraculous escape, averting a major tragedy.

As per reports, one Siba Nayak of Mangalapur village had five daughters. The youngest of them was married to Ankur Sadangi, a resident of Shankarapasi. Since Siba had no son,his youngest daughter and son in-law were staying with them. 

On Tuesday night at around 11pm, Ankur came home in an inebriated state. He picked up a fight over a mundane issue and created a scene with his in-laws. Later, he went to sleep in a separate unit while his wife, her parents and daughter slept in an adjoining space. A while later, Ankur got up, locked all windows and door of the room where his in-laws and wife were sleeping and used a matchstick to start the fire. He then fled the scene.

Neighbours saw smoke coming ot of the house and alerted the family, helping them escape in time. Fire personnel were alerted who arrived on the spot and doused the flames. 

"We woke up to the house engulfed in fire. My son in-law planned this attack. Before fleeing, he even took away our poultry and other belongings," said Siba. 

The wife of the accused also levelled similar allegations against him and said they were woken up by a relative when they saw smoke. 

Police, meanwhile, regsitered a case following a complaint by the family.