A man was arrested for allegedly setting his wife on fire in Punjab's Jakopur village over a petty matter, leading to her death, police said today.
Gurmej Singh alias Laddi Palwinder Kaur was arrested yesterday for setting Palwinder Kaur ablaze on Monday after she clipped his nails too deep cutting into the skin, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Shahkot) in Jalandhar district, Harpreet Singh said.
She was rushed to hospital where she succumbed on Thursday, the DSP said.
The victim's kin told police she was persistenly harrased for dowry, the DSP said.
In her statement given to the Magistrate before her death, the victim told the police that her husband had set her on fire after thrashing her.
The DSP said Kaur had called up her brothers in Amritsar and expressed her fear that her husband may harm her.
"She told them that her husband was enraged as she had clipped his nails too deep cutting into the finger's skin. After she made the phone call, Gurmej abused and thrashed Kaur and later sprinkled kerosene on her and set her on fire," he said.
Two brothers of the victim rushed to Lohian, but found their sister in a semi-burnt condition and rushed her to civil hospital at Lohian, from where she was referred to a Jalandhar hospital, where she succumbed to her burn injuries, he said.
The brothers of the victim claimed she was pregnant, but the DSP said they were waiting for the postmortem report.
