Indian woman, two children killed in fire in US

WASHINGTON: An Indian woman and her two children were killed in a "suspicious" fire at their home in Illinois.

Nimisha Tiwari, 32, her toddler daughter Ananya and four-year-old son Vakadham were killed in the Saturday afternoon fire in the family's two-story house in the Cinnamon Creek subdivision where they had been living for five years.

Police described the fire as "suspicious" and arson investigators were called in.

Eighteen-months-old Ananya suffered thermal burns and the manner of death was 'homicide', according to a Cook County medical examiner's autopsy report.

While investigators released a cause of death for Ananya, autopsy findings for her mother were not being discussed pending police and fire investigations into the case, authorities said.

Nimisha's husband Anand Tiwari, a software engineer, is not a suspect because police verified his whereabouts for that morning, investigators were quoted as saying by Chicago Sun Times.

Neighbours said Anand was taking a business class in downtown Chicago when the blaze broke out.

"He was extremely distraught" when he came to the police station, police official Betsy Smith said.

Firefighters found Nimisha and her children lying unconscious in a second-floor bedroom -- the spot where the blaze started, investigators say.

"It's beyond shocking. I see her all the time, talk to her all the time," said next-door neighbour Mangala Shet, who said the women talked about their children and reminisced about India.