Petty fight ends in woman's murder

 A trivial issue among neighbours resulted in the murder of a 28-year-old homemaker in Srigandha Nagar under Rajagopala Nagar police station limits. 

The police said that the woman, Pallavi, 28, wife of Sundar Raj, a crane operator in a private company, succumbed to burns at the Victoria Hospital early on Friday. She was set ablaze by her neighbour Chandre Gowda and his family last Monday 8 over a trivial issue. Her family made a complaint to the police the next day and Gowda was detained. 

According to a police officer, Gowda’s brother-in-law, Vasu, had asked his friend Raj if he could find him a house on rent. Raj showed him a house in a nearby area. Vasu saw the house but asked the landlord to refit the door and get some minor repairs done in the house. The owner agreed. 

Meanwhile, Vasu and his wife were staying at Gowda’s house. But his wife could not get along well with Gowda’s wife Kamala and the two quarrelled frequently. 

Fed up with these spats, Vasu asked Raj if he and his family could stay in his home till the house he planned to rent was repaired. Raj agreed and accommodated Vasu and his wife in his house. But Gowda and Kamala opposed this and abused Pallavi. 

A few days ago, Vasu moved into his rented house. On Monday, Gowda and Kamala picked a quarrel with Pallavi over the same issue. Later, when Pallavi was in the kitchen, they doused her in kerosene and set her ablaze. 

Pallavi’s son, who had just come home, rushed to her rescue and managed to douse the fire. He called his father who rushed Pallavi to the Victoria Hospital. But she had suffered severe burns and died on Friday morning. 

A senior police officer said, “Raj made the complaint the next day. Pallavi’s son told us that Gowda, Kamala and their son poured kerosene on his mother and set her on fire. It is also said that Kamala used to accuse Pallavi of having an affair with his brother Vasu.
 Based on this information, we have detained Gowda and are interrogating him. We are ascertaining the role of Kamala and her son.”