Udupi, Jun 26: In a bizarre incident, a middle aged Hindu priest from Udupi committed suicide by setting himself ablaze on Thursday inside a car in BDA Park, Kumbalgodu, on Mysuru Road in Bengaluru.
Shivashankar Hebbar, a resident of Kengeri and a priest at Shani Mahatma temple on Mysuru Road is the deceased.
Around noon the priest pulled his Maruti 800 into an empty space under a tree. Then he took out a can of petrol, sat in the car and poured it over himself and set fire.
As shocked members of the public saw him afire in the automobile, they called the police and the fire brigade. But by the time the fire fighters could rescue Hebbar, his body had charred.
Two fire tenders rushed to douse the fire and shifted the charred body to hospital.
Hailing from Udupi, Hebbar was married for over 14 years and his wife works in a mobile phone company.
The couple, with their 11-year-old son, was residing in Jnana Jyothi Nagar, the police said.
Police suspect that the priest took the extreme step over some family dispute but the exact motive for the suicide is unclear. They are also investigating whether Hebbar actually set himself ablaze or the car got caught in an accidental fire.
For now, a case of unnatural death has been registered at the Kumbalgodu police station.
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