Kerala man sets girl ablaze inside classroom, then immolates self
The man, in a dying declaration, told doctors that he held her while she tried to run away, and lit the fire.
In an incident that has sent shock waves through Kerala, a young man set a girl on fire, that too in a classroom. The incident happened inside a classroom of Kottayam School of Medical Education (SME) on Wednesday afternoon.
The man, in an act of depravity, doused himself with petrol and targeted a young woman who had rejected his advances.
With more than 80% burns, both of them succumbed to their injuries later in the day, at the Government Medical College Hospital (GMC), Kottayam.
Adarsh Suneendran (26), was a former student of Physiotherapy at Gandhinagar center of the Kottayam SME college, while the girl was identified as Reshmi (21), who was a final year student at the same college.
Adarsh had come to college to write his supplementary examinations as he had failed in some subjects. However, that was not all, as he brought a can of petrol with him.
As Adarsh entered the classroom with a bag and said 'Hello Reshmi', none of the classmates felt suspicious. In a matter of minutes, he doused her face and body with petrol. Before the few students in the classroom could understand what was happening around them, a terrified Reshmi ran out screaming, Adarsh behind her.
Reshmi ran into the college library. Two students who were in the library later told the police that they were taken aback as a screaming Reshmi whose clothes were wet entered the library. "She came running and then he came and hugged her. Suddenly, there was fire," one of the students said.a
Adarsh collapsed in the library, but Reshmi ran out. In her panic, she seemed to have lost her way and ran into a narrow corridor which was largely empty. A few staff members and students found her lying on the floor, her entire body on fire. Though they doused the fire with water, Reshmi had already suffered severe burns.
Adarsh died in the hospital first, and then Reshmi.
Reports say that Adarsh had proposed to Reshmi and she had rejected it, but he had been insistent to get into a relationship. Reshmi’s father had also filed a police complaint against him earlier.
In a dying declaration at the hospital, Adarsh told doctors that he poured petrol over himself and forcibly poured it on Reshmi after entering the classroom.
"He told doctors that he hugged her while she tried to run away and lit the fire. He also said they were earlier in a relationship and later she betrayed him," Dr. R P Renjin, RMO of GMC, Kottayam told the media.
Other students who tried to save Reshmi also suffered a few burn injuries.
"We all brought water from toilets and sprayed it on her, but by the time, it was too late, as half of her body was burnt,” Reshmi’s classmate Ashwin told the media.
Adarsh was a native of Kollam district and Reshmi was from Alappuzha district.
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In Kerala Medical College Classroom, She Was Set On Fire
Thiruvananthapuram: A 20-year-old student was doused with petrol and set on fire in full view of other students at a medical college in Kerala's Kottayam on Wednesday. Her assailant had set himself on fire as well.
Both had suffered serious burn injuries and died in hospital. Two of the students who had tried to save the woman, Lakshmi, have sustained burns and have been admitted in hospital.
The horrific incident had taken place in from of a handful of students, who had come to the SME College despite a strike.
Eyewitnesses said the man, Adarsh, in his mid-twenties, was a former student of the college. On Wednesday afternoon, he had walked into the classroom and poured petrol on the woman and himself. As the woman ran out, he chased and caught her, and then used a lighter to set her clothes ablaze. Then he set fire to his own clothes as well.
The School of Medical Education is a part of Kottayam's Mahatma Gandhi University. NDTV
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