Woman set on fire in Telangana after rejecting marriage proposal

On Tuesday afternoon, February 17, 2026, a 28-year-old married woman in Mahabubabad town was set on fire by a man who rejected his proposal.

The accused, identified as 40-year-old Kunta Anjaiah, who runs a milk shop at YSR Junction, was in a relationship with a woman named V. Sandhya alias Manjula. Police said the woman had been running a vegetable cart in front of her shop for the last three years.

According to Mahabubabad Town Inspector Mahendar Reddy, the accused was a widow and the woman was married. Anjaiah had three children and his wife had died, while Sandhya had two children and had been living separately from her husband for the last three years due to a family dispute.

She had moved to Mahabubabad with her children and was making a living by selling vegetables.

The official said the two had been seeing each other for the last three years. However, Anjaiah allegedly started suspecting Sandhya of being in touch with someone else and accused her of ignoring him. He warned her not to see anyone else and asked her to marry him.

Preliminary investigation shows that Anjaiah went to Sandhya’s house in Pragathi Nagar Colony around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, and set it on fire. He then allegedly hugged her and they both suffered serious burn injuries.

The injured were first shifted to the Government Hospital in Mahabubabad and later referred to a government hospital in Warangal for further treatment. It was reported that both of them were approximately 70% burned and their condition was critical.

A case has been registered and further investigation is on.