A 50-year-old businessman was set ablaze allegedly by a woman, her three children and her women associate inside his shop at Khyala in West Delhi on Friday. All the accused are on the run.
The incident took place when Vijay Kumar Arora, a resident of T-Block in Vishnu Garden, reached his auto spare-parts and repair shop in the morning and found Kanta and Krishna selling earthen pots outside his shop. He raised objection, at which Krishna allegedly called up her three sons Pooran, Chaman and Raj. An altercation ensued between them.
Mr. Arora called up his son Sourav, asking him to immediately reach the shop as a fight had broken out between him and the others. “Mr. Arora lived with his wife Anita and sons, Gaurav and Sourav, not far from his shop,” said a police officer.
As Sourav reached the spot, he found the shutter of his father’s shop half open. He then saw his father lying inside the premises with serious burn injuries. Mr. Arora was not in his senses. A can containing some fluid, apparently kerosene, was found lying nearby and the inflammable fluid splattered all over. With the help of neighbours, he rushed his father to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Enquiries by the police revealed that there was a long-standing dispute between Mr. Arora and the two women, Kanta and Krishna. They had set up a temporary stall for selling earthen pots, which allegedly blocked the way to his shop. This would lead to heated exchanges between them. Mr. Arora finally lodged a complaint with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, following which the stall was removed about a week ago.
However, Kanta and Krishna reoccupied the same place on Friday morning which irked Mr. Arora. The police suspect that the two and Krishna’s sons allegedly poured kerosene over him and set him ablaze.
The police have registered a murder case and launched a hunt for the suspects. “The victim’s family has accused them of having murdered him. On suspicion of their involvement, we are trying to track them down for questioning,” said the officer.
