Chennai: Four persons suffered burns after a roadside shop owner poured kerosene on them following a fight over the parking of a lorry from which watermelons were being unloaded near Pallipattu in Thiruvallur district on Wednesday.
According to the police, arguments started in RK Pettai market when roadside vendors Gokul and Soundar selling watermelons and chicken pakoda were unloading watermelons from a lorry parked on the road.
Two men identified as Shankar and Kathiresan from the same area asked Gokul to park the vehicle on the side of the road and unload the melons.
While Gokul and Soundar were engaged in a quarrel with them, two more men named Vasu and Yoganandam joined in support of Shankar and his friend.
This infuriated Gokul, who picked up a bottle of kerosene kept for refilling his stove for making chicken pakoda and poured it over the people fighting with him. He poured kerosene over Vasu and Yoganandam and the fuel accidentally fell on Soundar’s wife Veda besides another person named Surya.
The flames from the stove engulfed all the four in no time. While Vasu, Yoganandam and Surya were admitted to KMC, Veda was taken to Vellore government hospital. Police have arrested Gokul in connection with the incident.
