Rajkot/Jamnagar: In a proverbial twist in the tale, the fire that had broken out at a commercial complex near Khambhaliya Gate in Jamnagar on Thursday evening has turned out to be a case of murder.After the woman, identified as Divya Bhadrecha (32), who succumbed to burns on Friday afternoon, accused Ramesh Shrimali (39) of setting her ablaze in her dying declaration, police booked Shrimali for the crime. Incidentally, Shrimali, too, has received 60% of burns and is battling for his life at G G Hospital.Shrimali (39), a resident of Subhashnagar area in Jamnagar, was the advocate hired by Divya to fight for the accidental claim of her husband Paresh Bhadrecha in a sessions court of Jamnagar. Paresh had died in an accident eight years ago.In her dying declaration, Divya alleged that Shrimali had been harassing her by asking her for sex and that she had refused his advances. On the fateful day on Thursday, Shrimali called her at his office in Chaitanya Complex. Divya went to the office with her eight-year-old daughter Neha, who stood outside the glass cabin of Shrimali.“This time Shrimali had made up his mind to murder Divya if he met with her refusal. And when he again asked for sex and Divya refused, he doused her over with kerosene and set her ablaze. As the fire was ignited in the glass cabin, it turned into an inferno and created a blast, shattering the glass, the pieces of which hit Neha in her face,” Jamnagar A Division police station sub-inspector L R Gohel said.Initially it was suspected that the blast from a gas cylinder had caused the fire. However, there was no cylinder found on the spot.“We are waiting for Shrimali to regain consciousness to arrest him. However, his chances of survival are bleak,” Gohel added.

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