Woman who claimed rape dies day after after setting herself afire in police station premises

A woman, who had accused her husband's cousin of raping her, died on Monday at a hospital here, a day after she set herself afire at a police station demanding his arrest, police said.

The woman, who is aged around 36 years, had filed a case against her husband's cousin with Vaishali Nagar police station in June this year, alleging that he raped her in 2015.

She visited the police station on Sunday along with her minor son and poured some inflammable liquid, setting herself afire near the main gate. She was rushed to SMS hospital where she died early Monday morning, the police said.

They said that the accused was not arrested as the allegations against him were not found to be true in the investigation, which is still underway.

They said that as per the probe so far, the woman and the man were having an affair since October 2015 but he got engaged in April this year, which led to a rift in their relationship.

"The woman was unhappy with his engagement. Their discord appears to the reason behind the registration of the FIR," the police claimed.

They claimed that she had even called up the father of his fiancee, asking him to cancel the engagement.

The police said the two had visited several places like Delhi, Nainital, Ajmer and Udaipur together and stayed in hotels.

The police said she did not have a good relationship with her husband, who retired from the Army, and they had filed for divorce.

However, her husband accompanied her when she visited the police station to register the complaint on June 5.