India PhD student sets self on fire, hugs GF while ablaze after she rejected his marriage proposal
Lovers are at once the tenderest and the cruelest of people, Nick Joaquin once wrote.
A man pursuing a doctorate degree in India set himself on fire and tried to kill his girlfriend by hugging her while in flames.
The Times of India reported that the man, identified as Gajanan Munde, committed the crime after his girlfriend allegedly rejected his marriage proposal last Nov. 21 at the Government Institute of Science (GIS) in the city of Aurangabad.
Munde succumbed to his injuries at the hospital the following day. He was 30.
The woman, identified as Pooja Salve by the Times of India, sustained 55% of burn injuries and is recuperating in an intensive care unit.
According to the Indian Express, neither of the couple wasn't studying at the GIS.
Police said Salve, 28, was supposed to meet with an assistant professor, but Munde followed her to the professor's cabin. He locked the door from inside and poured fuel on himself.
Munde, then, set himself on fire and hugged Salve.
GIS employees rushed to the scene after hearing Salve cry for help. They broke the door open and doused the flames with a fire extinguisher.
The Times of India also reported that Munde's move was his third attempt at taking his own life.
Police did a search at his residence at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. They found two suicide notes, one of which was written about six to eight months ago.
Before leaving his place on that fateful day, Munde also wrote on the blackboard that it was his "last day," the Times of India reported.
An inspector believes Munde and Salve weren't in good terms, and the latter no longer wanted to stay in the relationship.
In fact, Salve went to the police several times last October to file a first information report against Munde. She, however, backtracked and asked the police not to register the report.
“It appears they have been fighting over this issue for the past several months," the Times of India quoted Inspector Geeta Bagwade as saying.
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