In a shocking incident, a woman died on Friday after she was set on fire in full public view in Hyderabad on Thursday.
The incident occurred in the city’s Lalaguda area in the evening when the 22-year-old woman, identified as Sandhya Rani, was returning home from work.
Sandhya sustained 80% burns and she was rushed to the government-run Gandhi Hospital, where her condition was stated to be critical. She succumbed to her injuries on Friday morning at around 6:30 am.
Though the police suspect that Sandhya may have known the attacker, the family said that it did not recognise the man.
Sandhya was working in a commercial establishment for about a year.
Quoting eye-witnesses, the police said she was returning home when the accused came on a motorcycle and met her. They discussed some matter for about 10 minutes.
During a heated argument, the attacker sprinkled petrol, set her on fire and escaped before people could raise an alarm.
On a complaint by girl's brother, police picked up the accused, who allegedly resorted to the ghastly crime as the girl had spurned his advances.
According to reports, the accused was identified as Karthik, and had even called the victim and spoken to her on the phone, a little while before the crime was committed. A case was registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The police said that Karthik, who worked with Sandhya, was recently sacked from the job, and was forcing her to resign as well.
“The incident happened in a jiffy and before we realised what was happening, she was engulfed in flames,” an eyewitness told DC.
IANS inputs