Stalker sets software engineer on fire in TN

In a ghastly act, a stalker went to the house of a software engineer, who had spurned his proposal for marriage, and set her on fire in the presence of her mother and sister at a quiet middle class residential locality in south Chennai on Monday night. The girl's mother and sister sustained severe burn injuries while attempting to rescue her and are undergoing treatment at the Government hospital.

This is the second major incident of a stalker resorting to extreme violence against women in the city. Over a year ago, a techie was hacked to death at a busy railway station in Chennai by a stalker.

The accused Akash, an unemployed engineering graduate, knew the 21-year-old victim Induja as a classmate in college. Police said in recent weeks, he had pursued Induja and proposed to her. “The girl had shown no interest in him and told Akash not to stalk her. On Monday night, he went to her house in Adambakkam and sought to talk to her. Initially Induja's mother did not open the door but later let him in since he insisted that he wanted to speak with her.

In a short while, angered by the girl's persistent refusal to marry him, he doused her with a can of inflammable fuel (which he had kept outside the house) and set her on fire,” a police officer said. When Induja's mother Renuka and sister Nivedha tried to douse the flames they sustained burn injuries. “Induja died on the spot,” the officer said, adding that Akash had managed to escape from the scene though a neighbour who rushed to the house upon hearing the screams of the burning women tried to nab him. Akash was arrested on Tuesday morning by the police based on leads obtained from neighbours of the girl.