A 30-year old woman, whose husband is working abroad, her two daughters, aged 13 and six, and sons aged eight and one and her father were found charred to death at their house yesterday.
DIG of Police Ramasubramanian said the family members were living on a plot of land purchased by one Louis Raj who had converted it into house sites and sold them through a broker, Suja Gani.
The site, where the victims were staying, had been sold to one Kalimuthu who had been pressuring the family to vacate, the DIG said.
The DIG said Suja Gani and Louis Raj had also filed a case and also threatened the family members with dire consequences if they did not vacate. However, they had refused to vacate.
Louis Raj, Kalimuthu, Suja Gani and three others hired gangsters from other districts and had waited till the family members slept, the DIG said. Then they had bolted the house from outside poured petrol over the hut and set it ablaze in the early hours of yesterday, he said.
The six arrested include Louis Raj, Kalimuthu and Suja Gani, the DIG said, adding, five special teams have been formed to nab the others.
Meanwhile, the husband arrived from abroad today, police said.