Four men set ablaze 10-year-old girl
Class V student battling for life
Four men set a 10-year-old girl on fire at Pilliganahalli, Gottigere, on Thursday morning, grievously injuring her.
Kavita is the daughter of Venkatesh, a cab driver.
The victim, a class V student and her sister Kavya, 8, both studying at a nearby government school, had left home to attend class when the incident occurred.
Venkatesh, the girl’s father was washing his car in front of their house when Kavita, who was on fire, came running to him.
“Within minutes of her going out, she had come back, crying in pain because of the burns she had suffered all over the body,” Venkatesh said.
“ I rushed her to the nearby hospital. Later she was admitted to the Victoria Hospital.
The doctors said her chances of survival were slim as she had suffered 83 per cent burns.”
He told Deccan Herald that his daughter had said that four men, who had used handkerchieves to conceal their faces, had poured kerosene on her before setting her ablaze.
A neighbour who saw the incident rushed to douse the flames. The gang of four escaped.
Vengeful act
Venkatesh, who lodged a complaint with Hulimavu police Station, told officers that Srinivas, a goon, may be behind the attack.
Srinivas, who was previously accused of terrorising residents in the area and demanding money as hafta (weekly ‘protection’ money), was arrested two years ago after Venkatesh registered a complaint against him at the Bannerghatta Police Station.
But Venkatesh claimed that Srinivas was back.
“He was nowhere to be seen in the village since. We had assumed that his menace had ended. But he reappeared in the village a week ago.
He threatened me on several occasions for complaining against him. But I never took it seriously. Now I think he has done this to my little daughter,” Venkatesh said.
The Hulimavu police have detained Srinivas and his brother, Harish, the convenor of a self-styled pro-Kannada group ‘Matrubhoomi Sanghatane’, along with an accomplice, Puttaraju.
