Woman ends life week after boyfriend

Chennai: A week after her

boyfriend

committed

suicide

, a 20-year-old college student set herself

ablaze

at a relative’s house near Avadi on Friday night. She died of burns on Saturday.

Police said M Sujatha, a native of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, was in a

relationship

with a relative, Silambarasan, 24. Sujatha’s parents opposed their union and had condemned the woman. They had also rejected Silambarasan’s formal proposal to marry her. Dejected, Silambarasan

hanged

at his house in Chittoor on February 22.

Police, quoting relatives, said Sujatha had been visibly upset since then and had remained withdrawn and inconsolable. To help her forget about the tragedy, her parents had sent her to their relative’s house at Karalapakkam near Avadi. “But she stopped eating and grew weaker,” a police officer said. On Friday night, Sujatha set herself

afire

. Hearing her cries, relatives and neighbours put out the fire and moved her to a government hospital, where she died on Saturday. The Muthapudhupet police have sent the body for postmortem.