Padma awardee female amputee mountaineer accused of 'murderous attack'

Padma Shree awardee and the world's first female amputee to have scaled Mt Everest, Arunima Sinha was accused of a "murderous attack" on her sister and brother-in-law.

Arunima's sister and her husband tried to commit self-immolation with their infant child in front of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly building here on Thursday.

Although the cops thwarted their attempt, the mountaineer's brother-in-law, identified as Om Prakash, suffered 30% burn injuries and was admitted to the hospital, where his condition was stated to be out of danger.

Om Prakash alleged that Arunima and her husband Gaurav had taken over an event management company, which he had formed with them a few years back and in which he had a 50% stake.

"They (Arunima and her husband) now want to kill me... my husband was attacked twice by them," Arunima's sister Luxmi said.

She said that they had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard but no action was taken by the cops.

Police officials said that a case was registered in this regard and the matter was being investigated. ''We will take action against the cops if they are found to be lax,'' said an official here.

Arunima was a well-known mountaineer and sportswoman. She was the world's first female amputee to scale Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Mount Elbrus (Russia), Mount Kosciusko (Australia), Mount Aconcagua (South America), Carstensz Pyramid (Indonesia) and Mount Vinson.

She had lost her left leg after she was attacked and thrown out from a running train in 2011.