Sydney, Jan. 5: An Indian-origin man has died from horrific burns after his “jealous” wife allegedly set fire to his genitals while he was asleep because she suspected him of having an affair.

Satish Narayan, 47, lost his battle to survive 20 days after sustaining burns to most of his body. His wife Rajni, 44, has appeared in an Adelaide court after being slapped with fresh charges of murder.

Rajni reportedly told her neighbours: “It’s just a penis I wanted to burn, I didn’t mean this to happen.”

Suspecting her husband was having an affair, Rajni told them: “I am a jealous wife, his penis should belong to me, I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else.”

She had already been charged with causing serious harm to her husband, arson and endangering her children.

Police alleged that Rajni doused his genitals with methylated spirit and then set him on fire early on the morning of December 7.

It is believed a major fire at their Cleveland Avenue townhouse in the southern city of Adelaide broke out when Satish awoke, jumped out of bed and knocked over the bottle of methylated spirit.

The couple’s three children and Rajni escaped the blaze unharmed.

However, Satish, an engineer, suffered burns in up to 85 per cent of his body. He died in Royal Adelaide Hospital on Saturday.

His wife is now in prison. She was remanded in police custody until Friday and had to undergo a psychological assessment.

An unnamed friend of the family told the local Sunday Mail newspaper that she had visited Rajni in the Adelaide Women’s Prison, before she had been told of her husband’s death.

She said the pair had held hands and prayed during her visit.

“She wanted him to live more than anything,” she said.

“The children are beautiful and it’s just a terrible tragedy.”

After being produced before the local magistrate, the public prosecutor said charges against Rajni had been upgraded to murder.

The prosecutor, Lucy Boord, said: “She poses a substantial risk to others given her flagrant offending.”

The fire caused about $681,317.50 (Rs 33.37 lakh) of damage to the couple’s home and an adjacent property.