Visakhapatnam: 50-years-old sets himself on fire as people watch

VISAKHAPATNAM: A security guard, who allegedly killed his wife a few months ago, attempted suicide by immolating himself on a busy road in full public glare in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday morning as the onlookers chose to go about their business.

Having sustained 60 per cent burns, the guard has been admitted to a city hospital, police said.
The security guard, M Mahalakshmi Naidu (50) was arrested on charges of killing his wife Rajeswari (38) by beating up her with a cricket bat after a heated argument on October 14 last year. Mahalakshmi Naidu had asked Rajeswari to quit her job at a beauty parlour in Gajuwaka and stay at home to take care of their children but she refused to do so. Recently, Mahalakshmi Naidu was granted a conditional bail.
“All these days, Naidu was living in fear that his brothers-in-law would kill him to avenge their sister’s death. And this fear might have driven him to resort to the extreme step,”  Pendurthi inspector J Murali said.

At around 10 am on Wednesday, Mahalakshmi Naidu came to a busy traffic junction in Pendurthi and doused self with petrol before setting himself on fire.
Police said the entire episode was recorded by CCTV camera. The video footage shows Naidu pouring petrol on his body and setting himself on fire in the middle of the busy road with pedestrians and commuters on vehicles.

“It all happened in just seconds and people present there were in a panic. There was no time for them to react,”  Pendurthi inspector J Murali said.
According to police, Naidu has 20 cents of land registered on his name and both his children (19 and 22 years of age) have been asking him to transfer the property rights to them. Though Mahalakshmi Naidu agreed to it, he was in fear that once he transferred the property,  he would get eliminated by his in-laws, said the inspector.

The incidents of people not eager to help out the victims in such cases are not new to Visakhapatnam. On October 22 last year, a middle-aged woman was raped by a drunk driver in full public glare on a footpath on a busy road in Visakhapatnam.