CHENNAI: Three days after a woman was charred to death near Kelambakkam, police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly setting her on fire. Police said the man identified as Kumar (56) allegedly sexually harassed the woman.
According to the Kelambakkam police, the accused Kumar was arrested based on CCTV footage from the scene. In the footage, Kumar was seen exiting the shop run by the woman, Suganya (38), just as the fire broke out.
Police said Kumar, who is married and has two children, was sexually harassing Suganya. Suganya, whose husband works abroad, lives with her children in Kelambakkam. She runs a photocopier shop in the area.
To put an end to the harassment, Suganya allegedly informed Kumar’s wife and his family about it. Enraged over this, Kumar went to the shop with five litres of petrol and poured it inside the shop and some on the woman and set her on fire and fled.
Arun (21) and Lenin (59), workers of the shop who were standing nearby rushed to save her. They put out the fire and rescued Suganya. Arun and Lenin sustained burn injuries. Passersby rushed the three victims to Chengalpattu Government Hospital. Suganya succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday.