Hyderabad: A 22-year-old woman was attacked by her alleged lover, who put petrol on her and set fire At Lalaguda on Thursday Evening.
The Deceased, identified as Sandhya Rani was working in a aluminum door manufacturing Company in Shanti Nagar, She suffered 80 percent burns and was being treated at Gandhi Hospital.
She said no, he burnt her: Sandhya’s family mourns brave daughter killed by a stalker, The Sandhya’s family was hoping to celebrate her brother’s birthday on Thursday. Instead, they witnessed their youngest die in pain. The grief is palpable outside the mortuary of Hyderabad’s state-run Gandhi Hospital as a group of people are huddled at the entrance. At the centre of the group sits N Savithri, weeping inconsolably. Her youngest daughter, 22-year-old Sandhya Rani, had died a few hours ago. The young woman had been set on fire by a stalker and she had succumbed to her injuries.
The attacker, identified as Karthik, is suspected to have known Sandhya, and has been arrested by the police. The man attacked Sandhya in full public view, dashing away in his motorcycle after the cowardly criminal act.
It had been a day that the family wanted to celebrate. It was Sandhya’s brother, N Kiran’s birthday.”It was Kiran’s birthday yesterday; he works at a KFC outlet. Sandhya had insisted to her mother, that they should do something special. Even though, Kiran dismissed the idea, Sandhya gave Rs 500 to her mom, to buy Biryani and Semiya kheer for all,” Shoba Rani, Sandhya’s neighbor tells. The Kiran (dressed in a pink shirt), sat next to his mother, grieving; he just wept, not speaking a word even to his mother. The Sandhya was returning home on Thursday evening when the accused came on a motorcycle and accosted her at the Lalaguda area of Hyderabad.
The two, according to eyewitnesses, spoke for a few minutes, during that a heated argument, the attacker threw petrol on her, set her on fire and escaped before people could raise an alarm. According to the police, Karthik wanted Sandhya to quit her job, but she wasn’t willing to do so for the sake of her family. Later, the accused Karthik surrendered to the police.
Sandhya was admitted to the Gandhi Hospital with 80% burns, and breathed her last on Friday morning.
According to the police, in her dying declaration Sandhya said that Sai Karthik was her colleague at Traders, the company that they both worked at. She further said that for the past year, Karthik had been harassing her, demanding that she get married to him. He was sacked by the company, and wanted her to resign as well.
The Sai Karthik has been booked for murder and for outraging the modesty of a woman. He has also been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, since Sandhya belongs to the Mala community, a Dalit community. The case is being probed by ACP of Gopalapuram.
A tragic day none of those who had gathered there knew about Karthik. “When the police showed us a photo of the suspect, we had no idea about who he was. Sandhya never spoke about anyone like that. She either didn’t want to trouble the family, or did not anticipate to what extent that the man would go.
