Stalker rapes 17-yr-old, sets her on fire in Telangana

HYDERABAD: A 17-year old was allegedly raped and set on fire by a stalker for spurning his advances in Telangana’s Suryapet district late on Friday, the police said on Saturday.

The victim, a student of Intermediate second year, equivalent to Class 12, in Raghavapur village of Thirumalagiri block, suffered more than 50% burns and was admitted in the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Government Hospital.

“Her condition is critical,” Thirumalagiri sub-inspector (SI) of police S Daniel said, citing the doctors. “The accused, identified as Venkatesh (24), who stays in the neighbourhood, is absconding.” Daniel said the woman was alone at home in the village on Friday and her parents were away in Hyderabad, where they are employed as construction workers.

“At around 9 pm, he {Venkatesh} entered her house and sexually assaulted her, before dousing her with petrol and setting her afire,” the officer said.

She ran out of her house screaming and alerted her neighbours, who immediately put out the fire and rushed her to the local hospital. From there, she was shifted to the government hospital in Warangal with the help of the police.

The woman’s parents complained to the police that Venkatesh, a farm worker, had been stalking their daughter for the past two years and trying to persuade her to marry him. She had been avoiding him because he was not educated.

“On receiving information, her parents rushed to Warangal hospital. They came to us on Saturday afternoon and lodged a formal complaint stating that their daughter was raped and set afire. They demanded that stringent action be taken against the accused,” the SI said.