Four days after a Chennai lab owner threw surgical spirit on a 34-year-old lab assistant and set her ablaze in a horrific incident, the woman succumbed to her burns on Friday.
The shocking incident occurred at a diagnostic centre in Madipakkam after Raja, the proprietor, was reportedly upset with the lab assistant’s work.
Yamuna, the lab assistant, reportedly sustained 46% burns. She was admitted to Kilpauk Medical College by locals who saw her run out of the diagnostic centre and collapse.
“Though initially she was responding to treatment at KMCH, her condition deteriorated on Friday night,” a police officer told The Hindu.
The Madipakkam Police have altered the charge against Raja from attempt to murder to homicide.
Raja was arrested by the police after the incident and has been detained in Puzhal Central Prison for the time being, according to the Times of India.
Speaking to TNM, a police officer from Madipakkam Police Station said, ”Raja is in remand and his charge has been altered from IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) to IPC Section 302 (murder)”.
In an earlier statement given to the police, Raja stated that he was annoyed with Yamuna as she was lax at work and this is why he flung the chemical at her impulsively.
“According to a statement given to the police, Raja, the lab owner said that he was annoyed with Yamuna after a customer complained that Yamuna had prepared wrong lab reports. The two got into an altercation which intensified. Raja said that Yamuna, who was upset, poured the surgical spirit and set herself ablaze. However, Yamuna’s family denies this claim and says that it it Raja who perpetrated the attack,” the officer told TNM.
Police stated that Raja also claimed that he suffered losses in his business due to Yamuna’s ineptitude.
Yamuna and husband Anandan, a cab driver, live in Sivasubramaniam Nagar, Puzhuthivakkam and have a four-year-old daughter.
Anandan said that Yamuna had never complained about her boss, and never knew about the murderous intent that Raja harboured, according to ToI.
Raja and Yamuna reportedly knew each other from before as they both worked as lab assistants at a private hospital before he set up the diagnostic centre a few years ago.
“He is unlikely to have hired her and offered more pay if she was incompetent,” a police officer told ToI.