Indore building fire: Police arrested `jilted lover'

Shubham Dixit (27), the absconding accused, allegedly torched a vehicle which belonged to a woman who had spurned him, police said.

Indore (Madhya Pradesh):The Indore police took accused Shubham Dixit into their custody on charges of setting ablaze a three-storey building, which claimed seven lives in Indore of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. The fire brigade was informed and by the time they came seven people were charred to death and five more are in critical condition. The injured have been admitted to the nearest hospital. All those who are living in the building were tenants.

Indore's Vijay Nagar police station in-charge Tehzeeb Qazi arrested a 27-year-old man Shubham aka Sanjay Dixit, a resident of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and registered a case under the Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder) and 436 (mischief by fire intending to cause destruction of any building) for setting fire in the building at Vijay Nagar locality in Indore city, the police said.

According to police, the accused allegedly torched a vehicle which belonged to a woman who had spurned him, police said. After that he set fire to the vehicle in the building's parking area early Saturday morning, the flames spread and engulfed the building, said a policeman. Examining the CCTV footage installed around the building, the culprit was identified.

Both the accused and the victim used to live in the same building located in Swarn Bagh, Indore, for rent. However, the accused had vacated the rented flat in the building six months ago. He wanted to marry this woman, but she refused and was marrying another person. Dixit and the woman also had a quarrel over Rs 10,000 due to which he took revenge on the girl by setting her Scooty on fire, the police said.

After the incident, the Indore Police collected CCTV footage and found that a man pouring petrol on a Scooty parked in the parking lot of the building. After some time, the young man again comes to the same building and tampers with the CCTV camera installed in the building. On the basis of the CCTV footage, the Vijay Nagar police tracked this youth from his friend’s place in the Niranjanpur area and later moved to the Lohamandi area. Police teams were dispatched to various places after which the youth was arrested. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed grief over the Indore fire. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave a free hand to the Indore police and instructed them to take stringent action against the accused in this case.