Jamshedpur, July 15: Sunita Ekka, who was allegedly set ablaze by her brother-in-law last afternoon in their house at Birsanagar, succumbed to her injuries at the Tata Main Hospital (TMH) today. Sunita was in the eighth month of her pregnancy.

According to Julius Ekka, father-in-law of the victim, his stepson Birsa poured kerosene over Sunita in the bathroom and set her on fire. He then ran away by jumping over the boundary wall of the house. Birsa is the son of Ekka’s deceased wife from her first marriage.

However, police have questioned Ekka’s statements.

Ekka said on that on the day of the incident, Sunita had lunch with him and then went into her room to take rest with her husband Martin. “After a few minutes I heard some noise in the bathroom. When I rushed towards the bathroom along with my son I saw smoke was coming out. On opening the door, we found Sunita on fire. She was screaming, saying that Birsa had burnt her,” said Ekka.

According to him, there used to be frequent quarrels between the two sons regarding Ekka’s property. “Ever since I opted for an early retirement from Tata Motors, their quarrels increased. They fought over my property. Birsa, sometimes, even threatened his brother of dire consequences,” Ekka said.

However, the police believe that the woman had committed suicide and the Ekka and Martin were trying to falsely implicate Birsa. Deputy superintendent of police S.K. Kujur said the bathroom had no bolt on the outside. “Even if some had tried to burn her she could have easily saved herself by running out of the bathroom. However, she sustained 95 per cent burns and it is surprising that she did not even try to run out,” Kujur said.

Police also found that at the time of incident, Birsa was present at the tent house where he works. Some residents of the area, too, had seen Birsa outside, on a cycle with another person, that afternoon.