The incident took place Friday afternoon at Lohaner village in the Devla Taluka of Nashik. (Representational) A 31-YEAR-OLD man from Nashik, who was allegedly set ablaze by his former girlfriend and her family members on Friday, succumbed to his burn injuries on Sunday. Nashik police, which had earlier arrested the woman, Kalyani Sonawane (23), and her four family members on charges of attempt to murder have now booked them for murder. The family members, comprising the woman’s mother Nirmala, father Gokul and two elder brothers – Hemant and Prasad – are alleged to have set Gorakh Bachav ablaze as they believed that he had earlier sabotaged her attempt to get married and was threatening to do so again.
The incident took place Friday afternoon at Lohaner village in the Devla Taluka of Nashik.
According to police, Bachav, a plumber by profession, was standing in the market area when Kalyani’s family members also reached the spot. The woman’s father and two brothers started beating up Bachav with iron pipe and rods, police said. Inspector Dileep Landge of Deola police station said that after the trio thrashed Bachav, Kalyani’s mother poured an inflammable liquid on him while Kalyani set him ablaze with a matchstick.
Once the family left the spot, locals tried to douse the fire and rushed Bachav to the Nagpur Civil Hospital where it was found that he had sustained 80-90 per cent burn injuries.
The local Deola police station was informed about the incident and they registered an FIR and arrested the Sonawane family members. Additional Superintendent of Police (Nashik) Madhuri Kangane said that the five family members were produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody till Tuesday. “They will be produced before the court on Tuesday,” Kangane said.
Kangane said Bachav succumbed to the burn injuries on Sunday night. Following this, the police have added section 302 (murder) against the five of Sonawane family who were earlier charged with 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Given that a more stringent section has been applied, the police may seek further custody of the arrested accused, sources said.
Landge said that though the girl and Bachav were in a relationship in the past, they had parted ways nearly four months ago as the woman’s family was opposed to their marriage. While the woman’s family had been looking for an alliance for her, Bachav kept trying to woo the woman back, they said. “In the past, the girl’s engagement had been fixed with another man but Bachav went to the man’s family and got the engagement called off by showing some pictures of the girl. Again the girl’s family was in talks with another suitor and Bachav had threatened to sabotage their efforts if they go ahead. Recently, the girl’s family had told him to stop interfering in her life. When they realised he was again trying to sabotage their efforts to get her married, they decided to get back at him,” Landge told The Indian Express.
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