Thiruvananthapuram: Man who set aged couple on fire succumbs to burns

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sasidharan Nair (75), the ex-serviceman who set an aged couple on fire last Saturday, succumbed to burns at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital (TMCH) on Monday. He had suffered 85% burns in the incident.
Nair had set ablaze Prabhakara Kurup (67) of Kochalummoodu in Madavoor, and his wife Vimaladevi (64) after barging into their house. Kurup died at the spot and Vimaladevi died at TMCH on Saturday.
The bodies of the couple were cremated at their house at Madavoor on Sunday evening.
Police said nearly three-decades-old personal vendetta against the couple led to the murder.
In 1996, Kurup had taken Nair’s son to Bahrain after promising him a job. However, Nair’s son committed suicide a couple of days later as he could not find a job. Nair believed that Kurup had a role in the suicide. Unable to bear the pain, Nair’s daughter also ended her life and it fuelled his vengeance against Kurup.
Following the incident, Nair used to quarrel with him. Due to this, Kurup shifted his base to Madavoor from Panappamkunnu in 1997.
In 1998, Nair moved the court seeking action against Kurup over his son’s death. On Friday, the court had acquitted Kurup from the charges.
Annoyed by this, Nair went to Kurup’s house last Saturday with a hammer and two bottles of petrol in a cover.
Using the hammer, he hit Kurup first and later poured petrol on him. Seeing this, his wife tried to rescue him and petrol fell on her as well. When Nair set them ablaze, Kurup held him tightly and Nair suffered burns.