BENGALURU: A 38-year-old electrician, Srinivas Murthy, allegedly set his two sons afire, aged 2 and 5, by pouring kerosene on them before setting himself ablaze at Anjananagar in Thalaghattapura, on the outskirts of the city on Sunday. While two-year old Preetham succumbed to injuries at the hospital, the accused Murthy and his five-year-old son Chetan Sai are critical at Victoria Hospital’s burns ward.
The police said Murthy was upset over his frequent quarrels with his wife and had decided to kill his children. His wife has been living with her parents for some time now.
A senior police officer said Murthy, who hails from T Narasipura in Mysuru, had come to the city a few years after marrying Premalatha, a resident of Thyagarajanagar in South Bengaluru.
The couple had married six years ago and were living in Thalaghattapura along with their sons.
About eight months ago, Premalatha left Murthy as he was addicted to alcohol and was reportedly harassing her frequently. She, along with their two sons, had gone to her parents’ house and was working as a housekeeping staff in a service apartment in Chennammanakere Achchukattu.
Murthy reportedly visited his in-laws’ house often and created nuisance. He also demanded that Premalatha return to his house, but she had refused to do so.
Upset over this, he decided to take revenge. On Saturday, he came to know that his sons were at his in-laws’ house while Premalatha had left for work. He went to their house and forced his mother-in-law Jayanthi to let the children come with him. He allegedly convinced her that he wanted to spend some time with them and would bring them back on Sunday evening. An emotional Jayanthi agreed as he started crying.
Murthy, then left Thyagarajanagar with his kids and reached home at 9pm. The kids had slept after having dinner and around 3.30 am, he allegedly poured kerosene on them and set them afire. Then, he set himself ablaze too.
The neighbours, who heard the children’s screams, were horrified to see the two kids and Murthy ablaze.
They immediately called an ambulance before alerting the police control room. The two children and Murthy were rushed to Victoria Hospital’s burns ward, where Preetham succumbed to injuries during treatment.
Premalatha has filed a case against Murthy before Thalaghattapura police. She had also filed a case against Murthy in Chennammanakere Achchukattu, when, on an earlier occasion, he had created ruckus before her parents’ house under the influence of alcohol. The police had then warned him to stay away from Premalatha as she was not interested in returning to live with him.