Sandhya Rani, the 23-year-old, who was set afire by a jilted lover on Thursday, succumbed to her burns on Friday.
Rani was rushed to Gandhi Hospital where doctors said she had received about 80 per cent burns. She was set on fire by Vanga Karthik, 25, who was arrested and remanded in judicial custody. The police modified the cases against Karthik to book him for murder.
Mourners at funeral proceeding demanded maximum punishment for Karthik. They said the death has left the family shattered, at it was completely dependent on Rani.
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Telangana Minister T. Srinivas Yadav announced a two-bedroom house in the State’s housing project and cash as compensation, besides assuring justice to the family.
A calm neighbourhood in Lalapet was violently shaken by the shrieks of Rani being burnt alive on Thursday evening, for rejecting the advances of Karthik.
Shanti Nagar witnessed the gruesome immolation of Rani who worked at a nearby metal fabrication workshop. When Rani was on her way home, she was accosted by Karthik, who later set her on fire. Witnesses, who attempted to rescue her, remain shocked by what they had seen.
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“We attempted to douse the flames with blankets, mud and called for an ambulance. She had run a few feet before falling to the ground. The attacker had fled the scene,” said Shravan, a local youth who came to Rani’s rescue on hearing her shrieks.
Stitching together, various narratives of events leading to the immolation points to a grouse the accused bore against Rani, investigators say.
Rani had landed a job at metal works workshop in Lalapet last year as a computer operator, about a year after graduating. According to workshop’s proprietor, Karthik had referred Rani at his former workplace.
“He was employed at the workshop more than a year-and-a- half ago. Karthik was sacked for not performing at work,” said V. Jagan Reddy, the proprietor of Lucky Traders, where Rani worked. The accused is unemployed.
Reddy says Rani had complained to him about Karthik pestering her to marry him.
“On Wednesday, Rani said she cannot accept Karthik as he did not have a job. I counselled him to prove himself before he proposed marriage,” said Reddy.
He continued, “On Thursday, Rani handed me a smartphone that he had gifted to her, asking me to return it to him. Karthik had earlier demanded she return the phone as their relationship had gone sour.” The phone now is part of the evidence collected by the police.
Later in the evening, Karthik met Rani after she left work around 6 p.m. Police say CCTV footages from cameras along the 500-metre route to the spot where the immolation occurred, show Rani and Karthik in a discussion.
After the two left the main road to enter a residential neighbourhood en-route Rani’s house, the accused doused Rani in petrol and set her on fire around 6.30 p.m.
Despite the pain that she must have been in, she told the cops, who arrived at the scene, the name of the accused, his contact number and his address,” Shravan said.