Krishnagar, April 1: A 55-year-old schoolteacher was allegedly burnt to death by her daughter and son-in-law because she refused to give Rs 1.5 lakh for his business.

Neighbours in the Nabadwip locality saw smoke billowing out of Prabha Das’s house on Friday evening and rushed in to find her daughter Rinki and her husband Pulak Ghosh chatting.

The door to the adjoining room, filled with smoke, was allegedly bolted from outside.

Aunt Mitali was with Rinki and her husband when her mother was burning.

Prabha’s husband Girish, 65, a retired schoolteacher, had gone to his ancestral house that evening.

Her 75-year-old mother Renuka Sarkar lodged a police complaint naming her granddaughter, her husband and the aunt as suspects.

In the heat of the moment, the neighbours broke open the bedroom door to reach Prabha. The teacher of Jahannagar Primary School in Purbasthali, Burdwan, was taken to the local state general hospital and later shifted to the Nadia district hospital in Krishnagar, where she died last night.

“My granddaughter killed her mother. We are ashamed,” Renuka said.

The inspector in charge of Nabadwip, about 100 km from Calcutta, said a murder case has been registered against Rinki, Pulak and Mitali. “They are absconding.”

Prabha’s brother, businessman Baburam Sarkar, said Rinki had recently asked for Rs 1.5 lakh from her mother because Pulak, who is jobless and lives at his in-laws’ since marriage, wanted to start a business. “But he was good for nothing and my sister refused to give him the money. She also made sure that Girish did not help him,” said Baburam.

Rinki, who married Pulak two years ago after going around with him for nearly five years, felt let down by her mother. “Pulak used to emotionally blackmail her. He had assured Mitali, who is single, a share of Rinki’s property after her father’s death,” an officer said.