Man immolates self over marital discord

Fed up with his marital problems, a 40-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by setting himself on fire outside his in-laws’ house at east Delhi’s Jagatpuri on Friday. No suicide note has been recovered.

Gaurav Kumar apparently took the decision over his wife’s “continuous refusal to mend their relationship”. According to police, his wife Seema was living separately with their 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son since 2008.

At 6 pm, he went to Seema’s house at New Govindpuri and asked her to meet him. She refused, after which he started calling his son and asked him to meet. “When he realised that nobody was willing to meet him, he poured some inflammable substance and burnt himself,” a police official said. By the time the fire was doused by locals, he had sustained almost 100 per cent burns. A call was made to the police control room, after which he was rushed to Lal Bahadur Shashtri Hospital.

“Gaurav was declared brought dead by doctors. His body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem on Saturday,” the official added.

Police have recovered three empty bottles from the spot where Gaurav set himself on fire. Initial probe has revealed that Gaurav had been forcing Seema to shift back to his house, but Seema refused. She had also filed for divorce in 2010, but no court order had been delivered so far.

Neighbours said that Seema had been threatening Gaurav with police action due to his continuous pestering. Gaurav used to come to meet Seema regularly, and was also seen indulging in heated arguments.

However, none of them knew what Gaurav was doing these days and where he was staying.