The man was already known to police for assault and property offences
TOI correspondent from London: A 41-year-old Romanian neighbour of the three Indian students killed in a fire in west Germany has been arrested on suspicion of their murder. Two female and one male Indian student, all in their 20s and from Kerala, were killed in the fire which broke out in an apartment building on Poststraße, in the Hofstede district of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, at 4.15 am Tuesday.
The man, who lived in the same apartment block as the students, is being held in pre-trial detention and is being questioned by homicide detectives, Bochum police said. Residents said several strollers in the hallway had been set alight, causing the fire to spread to the wooden staircase, blocking the only escape route and preventing firefighters from rescuing people via the stairs. The man was already known to police for assault and property offences. Formal charges have not yet been filed. Their bodies were found in an apartment on the second floor. Five people were injured and taken to hospital. When the fire brigade arrived, the flames had already spread throughout the building. Many residents had to escape through windows. A cat, too, was rescued, given oxygen treatment, and handed over to a veterinarian.
There had also been a police operation at the same apartment block on Sunday involving a dispute, German media reported.