Car with three people inside set on fire in Andhra's Vijayawada

A car with three people inside was set on fire in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada on Monday (August 17), allegedly as the result of a real estate dispute.

All three of them were injured in the fire, and one of them is in critical condition.

Venugopal Reddy, the man who reportedly set the car on fire, is on the run. Search operations are underway to find him, according to V Harshavardhan Raju, a senior police officer in Vijayawada.

“Venugopal Reddy was a business partner with Gangadhar some time ago. They used to buy and sell second-hand cars. However, their business did not run well. After incurring losses, Venugopal and Gangadhar parted ways,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

After the two of them had gone their separate ways, Venugopal had allegedly tried to reach out to Gangadhar again, with the latter not responding for a while.

Following this, Gangadhar, his wife, and their friend had gone to meet Venugopal on Monday.

“All four persons were discussing the matter in the car. At around 4.45 PM, Venugopal got down the car on the pretext of smoking a cigarette. He poured the petrol, which he brought in a whiskey bottle, on the car and set it ablaze. Venugopal Reddy ran away from the spot,” the police officer told ANI.

Visuals that emerged showed the car on fire while spectators looked on.

The three injured were taken to a hospital. While Gangadhar and his wife sustained minor injuries, the husband’s friend, who had been with them inside the car, has serious burns, the police said.

Gangadhar’s wife was sent home shortly after and her husband was taken to a police station to record his statement.

Police said a case will be filed after all the legal formalities were done.