BAREILLY: In a gruesome incident, a 30-year-old man allegedly poured kerosene on a 16-year-old girl and set her on fire after raping her on Thursday night. Both the accused and girl used to live at

in

under

limits of

. The girl had sustained 80% burns and was immediately referred to

in Delhi but couldn’t survive. Sambal police chief Yamuna Prasad said that they arrested the accused late on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday and sent him to jail after lodging FIR against him.

During interrogation, the man said that he had an affair with the slain girl and they used to talk each other over the mobile phone.

“On Thursday evening, when my girlfriend’s mother had gone out to buy medicine, I entered into her house. She was alone at that time. Sooner, her mother came back and seeing us in a compromising position in her room she started abusing me. I tried to make her calm down and apologised but she was not ready to listen to me. When she said to lodge FIR against me, I lost control and in a fit of rage I poured kerosene on my girlfriend to get her ablaze,” accused Jishan told police.

Police said that the victim’s mother said that when she entered the room she found Jishan raping her girl.

“Jishan was raping my daughter and upon seeing me there he tried to escape the scene but I raised the alarm. Meanwhile, he got the kerosene can placed outside the room which he poured on my daughter and set her on fire before running away,” the girl's mother said to the police.

SP Prasad said that as soon as they learnt about the incident, police team immediatly rushed to the spot and shifted the girl to the hospital in a serious condition from where she was referred to Delhi and a police team escorted her while shifting to higher facility. They conducted raids at the whereabouts of the accused Jishan and caught him from Bilari tri-junction, he said.

“Both were neighbours and we learnt that they often used to visit each other. The accused said that girl’s mother caught them in compromising position, however, the woman said that he was raping her girl when she reached there. On the basis of her complaint, we have lodged an FIR under section 376 (rape), 307 (attempt to murder), 342 (wrongful confinement) of Indian penal code and POCSO Act,” SP said adding that they were investigating the matter.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)