Chandigarh: Murder charges framed against man for setting girlfriend ablaze
The victim’s dying declaration against him has been attached to the chargesheet and is the clinching evidence against the accused
The court of additional sessions judge Rajnish Garg on Wednesday framed murder charges against a 26-year-old man who had allegedly set his girlfriend ablaze in a park near the Sector 35 petrol pump on April 9 this year following a tiff over marriage.
The victim’s dying declaration against him has been attached to the chargesheet and is the clinching evidence against the accused.
The accused has been identified as Vishal, 26, a resident of Kharar who worked at a mobile shop in Bijwara Market in Sector 22.
The victim, Rani, daughter of Jaipal, was a resident of Sohana village in Mohali, and worked as a housekeeper.
As per the chargesheet filed on July 22, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Om Parkash and ASI Surjit Singh were on patrol duty on the night of April 9 when they received a telephonic intimation from Sector-36 police station about a woman set ablaze in the Sector 35 park. When the cops reached the spot, they found the woman in a severely burnt state and rushed her to Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, in an ambulance.
Here, she recorded her statement before a judicial magistrate and stated that Vishal had sprinkled some liquid on her and set her on fire. She prayed for legal action to be taken against the culprit.
Around 3am, she was referred to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, where she succumbed after a few hours. As per doctors, she had suffered 80% burns.
The court stated that there is sufficient evidence against the accused for framing of charges under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. The recording of evidence will begin from September 4 when the statements of prosecution witnesses will be recorded.
‘Fight over marriage had turned ugly’
Vishal and Rani had been in a relationship for around seven years.
However, they started having frequent fights over the issue of marriage. The matter heated up to the point of a break-up.
As per the police, Rani had called Vishal for their “last meeting” before the break-up. Both also decided to return the gifts they had given each other over the years.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman hired an Uber cab from her residence in Sohana to the Bijwara market in Sector 22 around 9 pm. After her arrival, Vishal asked her to reach a park Sector 35 instead.
Here, the duo had a bitter spat, following which Vishal returned the silver bracelet that Rani had gifted him on his last birthday. In a fit of rage, she tossed the bracelet in a dustbin at the park. She also returned a women’s top gifted by Vishal, who also dumped it in the bin.
As per the FIR, around 09.45pm, a man and a woman were arguing with each other. Thereafter, the man threw some inflammatory liquid on the woman and then ignited the fire with a matchstick. As the woman started crying, the man tried to extinguish the fire.
Following this, two-three boys reached the spot along with a fire extinguisher from the petrol pump and put out the fire.
Police later recovered the gifts from the dustbin as evidence in the case.