Bhubaneswar, Oct. 7: A 32-year-old man torched a defunct ambulance to protest against the death of his wife after he failed to arrange for an ambulance to take her to a hospital in time.

Mohan Sethy set fire to the ambulance at a community health centre in Rebana Nuagaon village under Brahmagiri police limits in Puri district, around 90km from here.

Some friends of Mohan, whose wife Basanti tried to take her life following a family dispute, were also involved in the torching, police said.

The police said Mohan had rushed his wife to the health centre around 10.30am. The doctors at the health centre referred her to the Puri district headquarters hospital because her condition was critical.

However, Mohan could not find an ambulance.

Sources said that though there was an ambulance at the health centre, it had been lying defunct for eight months. Basanti died at 11.30am even as Mohan was trying to arrange for an ambulance. An angry Mohan and his friends then torched the defunct ambulance and fled from the hospital.

Inspector in charge of Brahmagiri police station Subash Chandra Panda said they had registered a case against Mohan after getting a complaint from a doctor of the health centre. "Mohan might have got provoked by the death of his wife, which led to the incident. We are trying to nab Mohan and his associates," said Panda.

People of the village demanded an ambulance service at the village health centre.

"We have been asking the authorities to repair the ambulance. But the district administration has taken no steps in this regard even as people continue to suffer," a villager said.