NOIDA: Four days after she tested positive for
Covid-19, a 52-year-old woman in home isolation immolated herself after dousing herself with
kerosene early on Thursday morning, according to police. She suffered around 70% burns. The woman had been upset ever since her report came, her family said, and had had little interaction with her husband and two children on Wednesday.
Police said the woman, identified as Archana, was the wife of retired
Indian Air Force officer Jaiprakash Sharma. They have a son and a daughter, both in their twenties. The family lives in Raj Enclave of Badalpur in Greater Noida.
According to cops, the incident took place around 4am. Archana, they said, immolated herself in the room she had isolated herself while her family members were asleep. Jaiprakash found her body when he woke up about three hours later.
Archana had undergone a
Covid test last week. The report, which came out on April 11, declared her positive. “Since then, she had been asked to stay isolated in a separate room. She had grown unusually silent on Wednesday. The family did not suspect anything was amiss and was shocked to find her body on Thursday morning,” Badalpur SHO Dinesh Kumar told TOI.
DCP (central Noida) Harish Chander said her son had also tested positive for Covid earlier and had recovered. “Archana’s family has said she was upset about getting Covid soon after her report came. No other reason has come to the fore for her suicide so far,” he said. The family refused to speak to mediapersons.