Tumakuru: A 30-year-old man allegedly blew up a car in a bid to die together with his former partner. While the woman managed to escape, he was charred to death.
The incident was reported from a national highway in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district on Saturday, the police said.
Nagendra, a resident of Ankola in Uttara Kannada district, allegedly set off the sequence of events after attacking his partner Ramya, who was also travelling in the vehicle, as reported by The Times of India.
The case appears to be linked to a relationship dispute that escalated into violence, the police said.
Nagendra and Ramya had allegedly been in a relationship for the past six years, and he had reportedly been pressuring her to marry him. The woman did not agree and distanced herself from Nagendra for the last six months. She had also blocked his number.
Nagendra had arrived at Ramya’s rented accommodation in Byrasandra near Jayanagar on Saturday morning, where an argument broke out between the two, the police said. Ramya works as an assistant technician (operation theatre) at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Bengaluru.
The altercation between the two was witnessed by Ramya’s roommate Nayana, who informed police that Nagendra threatened Ramya with a knife, warning her that he would kill her and himself if she did not accompany him.
Nagendra later booked a cab to Ankola, which was driven by Praveen, and the three began their journey around 11 am.
Nayana approached the Siddapura police station in the meantime and lodged a complaint. The police traced the vehicle using CCTV footage and contacted the driver, Praveen, who informed them that the car was travelling near Kallambella in Sira taluk.
The police then alerted the driver, asking him to stop at the nearest police station. This conversation between Praveen and the police was allegedly overheard by Nagendra and he got agitated on realising that a complaint had been lodged against him.
He then allegedly told Ramya, “Let’s die together,” and pulled out crude bombs from his pocket, before attacking the woman with a knife and injuring her.
Praveen immediately stopped the car and jumped out. Ramya followed suit and the two ran to a safe distance. Moments later, an explosion occurred inside the car, which was engulfed in flames, killing Nagendra on the spot.
Ramya sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment, the police said.
The police have launched a detailed investigation and are verifying claims regarding the explosives and the sequence of events leading to the blast.
