A 25-year-old woman in Telangana died of her burns on Friday morning, a day after a former colleague, set her on fire in Lallaguda, a suburb of Secunderabad, NDTV reported. The man had allegedly been stalking her for a few months.

Police arrested Karthik, who used to work with Sandhya Rani at an aluminium fabrication unit. Karthik was reportedly sacked a year ago for being incompetent, and began stalking Sandhya and harassing her to marry him, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone) B Sumathi told The Hindu.

Rani was on her way back from work at 6.45 pm on Thursday, when Karthik accosted her. The two had recently had an argument on the phone, Sumathi said.

“Sandhya was a capable young woman who has gone to college. When she refused to marry him, he could not take it,’’ Sumathi told NDTV.