1. The killer approaches Syed Fazruddin in his office as other women speak to him; 2. She hurls an accelerant... Read More

CHENNAI: A woman in a burqa set a Muslim priest ablaze in his office opposite Big Mosque in Chennai’s Triplicane on Monday night. Police are yet to apprehend the killer.

Police said on Tuesday the killer entered the office of Syed Fazruddin, 60, an imam at the Big Mosque, with at least five women devotees at 8pm on Monday. She then threw a chemical at him and set him on fire. The imam was taken to a hospital where he died of burn injuries two hours later. The Triplicane police filed a murder case. Investigators are yet to identify the woman and determine the motive for the murder.

“Mani, a 61-year-old businessman with a shop in the same building, also a close friend of the imam, chased the woman. He caught her but she pushed him aside and fled,” an investigating officer said, adding that Mani alerted the Triplicane police. Police arrived at the spot to find the imam’s office partially burned.

“It was a well-planned crime. Though the woman fled on foot, it is possible that there was a getaway vehicle waiting for her somewhere in the neighbourhood… Doctors who attended to the imam said they did not find any traces of petrol or kerosene . We have sent the samples to the forensics lab for tests,” he added.

