A 33-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide inside the MGR Nagar police station on Saturday morning, by setting herself ablaze using kerosene.
A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the death.
Police identified the woman as V. Sunitha, a resident of Madipakkam, who has been missing since the end of March. Her parents, Kondiah and Maryamma, had lodged a complaint with the office of the commissioner of police in the first week of April.
The complaint was sent to the MGR Nagar police, who investigated the case. They found that Sunitha had been living in a house in Ullagaram. She was called to the MGR Nagar police station for questioning.
Sunitha arrived on Saturday morning around 7.45 a.m., and while speaking to investigators, she managed to pick up a can of kerosene that was in the police station, doused herself with it, and lit a match.
Police officers frantically tried to put the flames out, and in the process, a special sub-inspector also suffered burns.
Sunitha was rushed to the Government Kilpauk Hospital, where she died around 1 p.m., police said.
The magisterial inquiry will attempt to determine whether the police officers had driven her to take the extreme step.
