Police said Nagaraj and his wife Prema were travelling in the car with their two minor children yesterday when they had an argument, following which he poured petrol on her, set her ablaze and ran out of the vehicle.
Prema managed to save her children by breaking the window panes of the car and throwing them out, a city police release said. Nagaraj himself took his wife and children to a nearby government hospital in an ambulance.
She had reportedly given a dying declaration about her husband's act to police.
Nagaraj was arrested today, the release said, adding he was remanded to custody.
The two used to frequently quarrel over Nagaraj not giving money for family expenses, it said.