Hyderabad: A 25-year-old stalker allegedly set ablaze the house of a woman he wanted to marry in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district, killing a child and a teenager in an attack that also injured four members of the family, police said on Wednesday.
The two killed in the early-morning blaze were aged 18 and 5 years. “The injured have been admitted to a government hospital at Rajahmundry [about 20 from their village in Kadiyam block],’’ said Kadiyam police sub-inspector K Sridhar Kumar. Police said the accused was on the run.
He added the condition of a 45-year-old woman and her 25-year-old daughter, who suffered third-degree burn injuries was critical.
Sridhar said the accused, Madala Srinivas had been staking his cousin over the last couple of years.
Srinivas was pressuring his aunt to get her daughter married to him, but she rejected his proposal because of his “bad habits”, according to the sub-inspector. He continued to allegedly harass her cousin even after she got married last year, according to the police officer.
Srinivas allegedly attempted to attack his aunt and uncle with a knife last week but they managed to escape and lodged a complaint with the police.
{{/usCountry}}Srinivas allegedly attempted to attack his aunt and uncle with a knife last week but they managed to escape and lodged a complaint with the police.
{{/usCountry}}“At around 4.30 am on Wednesday, Srinivas...poured petrol over the house and set it ablaze, when all family members were fast asleep,” Sridhar said.
Srinivas’s aunt, her elder daughter and two grandchildren were injured. Two other members of the family died at the spot while his uncle survived without any burns.
“We have filed a case of murder and are investigating. Srinivas is absconding and a manhunt has been launched to trace him,” the police officer said.