The 16-year-old girl who was allegedly set ablaze by three men in an Odisha village on July 19 succumbed to her burn injuries at AIIMS Delhi on Saturday.

Sources said the girl suffered a heart attack while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Through a post on his X account, Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi said that the death of the girl from Bayabara village under Balanga police station in Puri district had deeply saddened him. “The life of the girl could not be saved despite the efforts of the experts of Delhi AIIMS and the state government,” Majhi wrote.

Sources said that the girl was going to a relative’s house when she was waylaid by three men near the Bhargavi river. They dragged her to a desolate place, tried to gag her with a handkerchief, doused her with an inflammable substance and set her on fire. As she cried out in pain, the attackers fled the spot. She reached a nearby house where a woman gave her first aid.

The girl, a Class VIII dropout, had suffered 70 per cent burns. She was rushed to AIIMS Bhubaneswar and was later airlifted to AIIMS Delhi. A special corridor was created in the city on July 20 to take her to the Biju Patnaik Airport from where she flew to Delhi in an air ambulance.

The crime branch, which is probing the case, is yet to make any arrests or establish the motive behind the crime. The girl’s father, who owns a garage and has another daughter to look after, could not suggest any possible motive for the attack.

Odisha police posted on X: “We are deeply saddened to learn about the news of the victim in the Balanga case. The police have conducted a thorough investigation into the incident. The investigation has reached its final stage. The investigation so far has not revealed the involvement of anyone else in the crime. Hence, we request everyone not to make any comments on this sensitive issue at the hour of grief.”

The incident comes in the wake of the death of a 20-year-old college student from Balasore who had set herself on fire after complaining of sexual harassment by a college professor. Following the student’s death, the BJD and the Congress launched an attack on the BJP government, holding it responsible for the death of the girl and rising crime against women in the state.