Satara (Maharashtra), Oct 19 (IANS): In a bizarre incident, a man in Maharashtra's Satara set his house on fire after a big brawl with his wife and ended up burning around 10 homes in the immediate neighbourhood, police said on Tuesday.

The incident in Majgaon village happened late on Monday evening when Sanjay Patil and his wife Pallavi got into a fight over some domestic differences, said Malharpeth Police Station investigating officer Uttam Bhapkar.

In a fit of boiling rage, Patil suddenly went to the kitchen, lit a fire, and started setting his house ablaze as his wife screamed for help.

Within minutes, the gas cylinder in the kitchen was engulfed in flames and burst, and the blaze spread to the homes, built close to each other in the vicinity.

Panicked neighbours managed to pull out the warring couple and also evacuated their own homes, with no casualties reported.

Though they tried their best to extinguish the conflagration, their dwellings were completely reduced to ashes by early this morning.

"According to the local villagers, around 9-10 homes are fully gutted, and others suffered some damage, all totally worth around Rs 50 lakh," Bhapkar told IANS.

The enraged villagers, rendered homeless in the early winter chill, caught and thrashed Patil before handing him over to the police who arrested him, while his wife has taken refuge with the family of a relative nearby, locals said.

Patil was produced before a court in Satara which sent him to police custody for two days and a probe into the reasons for the huge brawl, the intentions behind the arson at home, etc is underway, said Bhapkar.