DEWAS: A couple and their two children were killed in a fire that broke out at a milk parlour-cum-house in Madhya Pradesh's Dewas district in the early hours of Saturday, police said.
The blaze erupted on the premises in the Nayapura area around 4.45 am, an official said. "We received information about a fire in a milk parlour in Nayapura, and a family was living in the same premises," Nahar Darwaja police station in-charge Manju Yadav told PTI.
She said the victims, a couple and their two children, died of suffocation and burn injuries. A team from the fire brigade has brought the blaze under control, the official said.
According to police, Dinesh Karpentar (35), his wife Gayatri (30), 10-year-old daughter Ishika (10) and seven-year-old son Chirag died in the fire.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Puneet Gehlot said Dinesh owned a dairy on the ground floor of the building and lived with his family on the second floor.
"We are probing into the cause of the fire. The dairy was on the ground floor, and the family was on the second floor while the first floor was vacant," the official told reporters.
He said the fire started on the ground floor, and it is suspected that it intensified as some inflammable material was stored there.
The SP said the family could not be rescued despite being on the second floor and could not escape.
The exact cause for the fire will be known after the forensics team conducts a probe, he said, adding that the fire has been controlled. Gehlot said the incident was serious, and the police are coordinating with the administration and local civic body to prevent such accidents.