Man empties petrol bottle on 17-year-old girl, sets her afire; both die

The parents of Devika, a Class 12 student, told police that Mithun had been warned on several occasions and they had also filed a police complaint following which he was summoned to the police station two days back and asked to keep off the girl.

A 17-year-old girl in Kerala’s Kochi died on Thursday after being set on fire by a 22-year-old man who had been stalking her for more than a year. The youth also sustained burn injuries and died in hospital

A 22-year-old man sets a girl on fire in Kerala. (AP Photo)

The parents of Devika, a Class 12 student, told police that Mithun had been warned on several occasions and they had also filed a police complaint following which he was summoned to the police station two days back and asked to keep off the girl. Devika’s friends told police that she was very disturbed by the events of the last couple of days.

Early Thursday, Mithun barged into Devika’s two-room house in Kakkanad, a commercial cum residential area, and insisted he wanted to see her. As soon as she stepped out, he grabbed her and emptied a bottle of petrol on her and lit the lighter. Devika’s parents told the police that before they could do anything both were engulfed by flames and later succumbed to injuries in a private hospital in Kochi.