Car on fire
[Representational image]Creative Commons

A man in Rajasthan reportedly killed both his wives while trying to burn the second one, say local reports.

The man, identified as one Deeparam Prajapat, has since been taken into police custody and has confessed to the deed.

Prajapat, a resident of the Jalore district of Rajasthan, had reportedly married a second time because his first wife was unwell.

However, his second wife apparently turned out to be quarrellous, picking fights with him as well as his first wife. The two wives have been identified as Maluy Devi and Dariya Devi in an India Today report, but there is no clarity on who the first wife is.

According to that report, Prajapat had planned to kill his second wife for quite some time now, and had even bought petrol two weeks ago — ostensibly to burn her one day.

That day turned out to be Tuesday, December 19, when Prajapat was travelling in his car with his two wives and the three children he has from them.

The second wife at some point during the ride started quarrelling again, which apparently prompted Prajapat to douse the car in petrol and set it on fire. He managed to pull out his children, but his two wives were trapped in the car. Even bystanders who rushed to help were unable to extricate them from the inferno.

The India Today report said Prajapat had, while in police custody, confessed to plotting to kill his second wife. He was quoted by the report as saying: "I do regret it now. But I tried to save my first wife. I also had waited endlessly for things to improve but could not help it in the end."