Ex-staffer of veggie outlet immolates self

CHENNAI: A former employee of a retail vegetable store chain, who set herself afire near an outlet in Alwarpet on Saturday, succumbed to the burns in hospital early on Sunday. Mylapore police, investigating the case, are yet to ascertain the motive.Inspector Mohandas told Express that R Ramya (25), a resident of Surya Nagar in Kotturpuram, arrived at the retail chain’s vegetable store on TTK Road in Alwarpet at 5.15 pm on Saturday. “She had earlier worked in the retail store’s outlet on K B Dasan Road near SIET College in Teynampet and quit one-and-half years ago,” the officer said.However, the inspector said, the victim’s husband Raja (28), a credit/PAN card agent, claimed that she had quit the retail store only six months ago and had gone to collect her three months’ salary that was pending and had a tiff with the supervisor over the issue.Preliminary probe showed that Ramya spoke to the store supervisor and later to someone on the cellphone for over one hour. Later, she took out a can of kerosene, which she had brought with her in a bag, doused her body and set herself afire. She was rushed to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, where she died at 2 am on Sunday, the inspector said.In her dying remarks, Ramya claimed that she had taken the extreme step because of stomach pain. “But we are not convinced,” he said. “We have asked for log details of her cellphone to find out about her hour-long conversation with the person before immolating herself.”He added that investigation to ascertain the real motive behind the suicide was going on.