India, June 16 -- A six-month-old dispute over a loaned amount of Rs.50,000 and a scooter between cousins spiralled into a deadly act of revenge that ended with three innocent lives lost in a fire in southeast Delhi's Tughlakabad Extension last week, according to police investigations.

According to three police officials aware of the case details, the saga began in February as repeated demands by a 27-year-old woman named Sarita for the return of money she had lent to her boyfriend's cousin - 30-year-old Deepak Kumar - eventually snowballed into an arson conspiracy.

Investigators said the dispute escalated after Sarita complained to her boyfriend, Niranjan, that Deepak had failed to return Rs.50,000 she had lent him despite months of re...