"I want hanging of the criminal. He destroyed all my hopes. How will I live without my sons?" said Delwar Hossain, father of Mostafa Shafin, and Mostafa Amin, who along with their cousin Mahim Hossain were burnt to death at Kabirpur village of Shailkupa upazila on Sunday night.

The alleged perpetrator, Iqbal Hossain, 40, is paternal uncle of Shafin, 10, and Amin, 5, and maternal uncle of Mahim, 14.

Around 7:30pm on Sunday night, Iqbal set fire to the three kids inside his house, 30 yards from Delwar's, police said.

Mahim's mother Jesmine Khatun, 40, also sustained serious burn injuries while trying to save the kids from the fire.

Iqbal, a marine engineer, who earlier worked in Singapore for six years, was aggrieved about 'misappropriation' of the money he had sent to his father Golam Nabi and elder brother Delwar, said family sources.

He returned to Bangladesh in October last year.

Bursting into tears, Golam Nabi said, "How could my son Iqbal brutally kill the two kids of my elder son and only son of my daughter?"

Police arrested Iqbal from the roof of the house the same night and sent him to a Magura court yesterday.  

"My two sons wanted to become doctors. How will I live without any son?" said a wailing Sheuli Khatun, mother of Shafin and Amin.