Bengaluru student set ablaze by uncle over affair with cousin dies

Shashank, the 18-year-old engineering student who was set ablaze by his uncle for being in a relationship with his daughter, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.

Shashank’s maternal aunt Hira told DH that he passed away at 5 pm at Victoria Hospital. She said Shashank suffered 80 per cent burns.

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A first-year BTech student at a private college in Kengeri, Shashank was abducted by his uncle Manu alias Mahesh in a Toyota Innova as he was walking home from college on Saturday. Shashank told police that he was set ablaze using inflammables at an isolated plot near the Kaniminike toll plaza of the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway. 

Shashank somehow managed to call his aunt Hira, who arrived at the spot and shifted him to the Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital by ambulance. He was later sent to Victoria Hospital.

Hira told DH that Shashank had severed all his ties with Manu’s daughter, Lahari. But Manu set him on fire as Lahari was determined to marry only Shashank.

Shashank’s family also accused the police of not investigating the case congruously.