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Man sets e-rickshaw driver on fire, victim’s wife also dies in rescue bid
The accused, Ram Narayan, was arrested from a nearby forest area, where he was hiding, early on Wednesday morning.
KANPUR A 72-year-old man allegedly poured petrol over an e-rickshaw driver late on Tuesday night and then set him ablaze. While the victim driver was burnt alive, his wife too died of burn injuries while trying to save him. Another woman, a relative of the victim couple, also sustained injuries in the incident, which took place in Chakeri, Kanpur.
The accused, Ram Narayan, was arrested from a nearby forest area, where he was hiding, early on Wednesday morning. He has confessed to the crime while adding that he feels no remorse for his action, said police.
It has been learnt that victim Ram Kumar (40) used to drive an e-rickshaw owned by the accused. “For the past few months, Ram Narayan had been asking Ram Kumar to return his e-rickshaw. On Tuesday, when Ram Kumar returned home from work, the accused poured petrol over him and lit him on fire,” said Ajay Kumar, victim’s brother.
Seeing her husband being lit on fire, Sapna (32) made a frantic effort to save him but the flames engulfed her as well. Ram Kumar’s cousin Monica, who lives next door, also tried to douse the flames but suffered serious burns in the process. While Ram Kumar and Sapna succumbed to their injuries at the LLR Hospital, Monica is still undergoing treatment, said police.
Notably, the accused, Ram Narayan, is a relative of Ram Kumar and had been living with the victim couple since the outbreak of the Covid virus in 2020. According to ACP, Cantonment, Shiva Singh, an FIR has been lodged on Wednesday morning in this case. The police would produce Ram Narayan in court and seek his remand.
During questioning, Ram Narayan told police that Ram Kumar withdrew ₹1.5 lakh from his bank account after his wife’s death due to Covid, and he usurped his e-rickshaw as well. “Ram Narayan alleges that he was humiliated and even threatened for asking Ram Kumar to return his e-rickshaw. He further says that the couple would not give him food. Therefore, he wanted to teach them a lesson. To this end, the accused had been storing petrol for more than three months. He used to steal fuel from vehicles at night,” said an official privy to the case.
