In a tragic incident, a 20-year-old woman from Visakhapatnam was set on fire on Saturday, inside her own home in T Nagarapalem.
The woman, identified as Roopa (20), was attacked by Hari Santosh (30), who also killed himself later, by jumping in front of a moving train near Vizianagaram.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that Roopa was a second-year BSc student of a private college at Tagarapuvalasa, while Hari, who worked in a furniture shop, had been reportedly stalking her for months, even though she refused to talk to him.
The police said that the incident took place when the woman and her brother Upendra were at home, at around 12:30pm on Saturday.
Hari entered their home with a bottle of kerosene, which he poured on Roopa, and set her on fire.
Roopa's parents were daily wage labourers, who had stepped out for work.
While Roopa died on the spot, Upendra, who tried to save his sister, also suffered serious burns. He was shifted to the King George Hospital in the city, where his condition is said to be critical.
Stating that the incident had sent shock waves among the residents of T. Nagarapalem area, The Hindu reported that Hari Santosh was reportedly warned several times by the relatives of the woman for stalking her, but did not pay heed to the warnings.
The Times of India reported that Roopa's parents even stopped sending her to college, because Hari would stalk her from college, to her house.
Roopa's parents had even fixed her marriage with another boy recently, the TOI report added.
In a similar incident last year, a teenage girl from Andhra was found with 90% burn injuries and died at a hospital, hours after she had complained to the police about being stalked
The incident occurred in March 2016, at Eluru town when 17-year-old Indumathi, was allegedly set ablaze by a stalker and his brother.
The girl had even reportedly stopped going to junior college before her death, because of the alleged harassment she faced.