After harassment complaint, actor’s ex-boyfriend kills self

Assistant director Gandhi Lalith Kumar, actor Nilani’s former boyfriend who was accused of abusing her after their relationship soured, succumbed to the injuries that he sustained after setting himself on fire a day earlier. In the wee hours of Monday, Gandhi died at the  hospital where he was  admitted after suffering burn injuries.

Gandhi, who resided in Valasaravakam, reached Rajamannar Salai in K K Nagar on Sunday afternoon with a can of petrol. When he was in front of Thai Sathya School, he poured the petrol on himself and set afire. After they came over the initial shock, the fruit vendors on the street came to his rescue and doused the fire using gunny bags. 

On information, K K Nagar Law and Order inspector Balamurali rushed to the spot and sent him to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. However, Gandhi had sustained 60 per cent burns and succumbed to the injuries around 4 am on Monday.

A native of Tiruvannamalai district, Gandhi was working as an assistant director in the television industry. He was said to have been in relationship with Nilani, an actor who was in the news after being arrested recently for speaking against the police over the firing and death of anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi. 

According to police, the two had been involved in a live-in relationship for a while, but differences cropped after Gandhi proposed to marry  Nilani, who was allegedly not ready to accept  the proposal.

In her complaint lodged at the Mylapore police station on Saturday, Nilani had accused Gandhi, whom she knew for more than three years, of verbally abusing her at the shooting location. “It seems they had parted ways but he had been following her,” police said, adding that her complaint had mentioned the pressure she was undergoing. 

Both were called to Mylapore station and the duo had reportedly sorted out the issue at the station before the police allowed them to leave.