Raipur, Nov 19 (IANS) Police in Chhattisgarh have launched a hunt for a man who had set his pregnant wife ablaze over dowry. The woman died Thursday after battling for life for over a week.

Police said that Kumendra Kumar, 32, of Aklatra village of Simga area, some 40 km from here, poured kerosene on his 29-year-old pregnant wife, Lata Bai, Nov 12 and set her on fire after she failed to meet dowry demand of her in-laws.

She was rushed by her neighbours to the Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Medical College and Hospital here with over 80 percent burns.

Police registered a case against Kumendra Kumar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and raided at two places late Thursday evening to arrest him but he managed to escape.