In a horrifying incident, a call taxi driver burned his wife alive inside his car in Nandanam, Chennai on Sunday. The woman had doused herself with petrol to threaten her husband following an argument inside the vehicle. The woman threw her two children out through the window as fire engulfed her in the back seat of the car.

Victims Dying Statement:

N Prema, 28, was admitted with high degree burns at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where she died after few hours. Prema had given a dying declaration to the police and doctors that her husband Nagaraj, 30, set her on fire after she doused petrol on her.

“Nagaraj stepped out of the car after setting her on fire. She managed to throw her children ­ Thisanth Raj, 4, and two-year-old Yashwanth Raj ­ through the open window onto the road. The children are out of danger and are admitted to KMC hospital for treatment,” said a police officer.

According to the police, Prema married Nagaraj, a native of Chengalpet, five years ago after her first husband had deserted her and the couple were living in a house on Alaiamman Koil Street in Teynampet with two children.

Based on a complaint from Prema’s mother Amaravathi, the Saidapet police registered a murder case against Nagaraj under IPC Section 302. Nagaraj was employed as a driver of the Maruti Dzire car bearing registration number TN 07 CB 6307, attached to the call taxi service ‘Ola’. He was said to be remanded in judicial custody on Monday.