A Gujarat riot victim was allegedly set ablaze by her lover for compensation money in Vatva area of Ahmedabad on Tuesday, officials said.

Bibi Bano, who witnessed the Naroda-Patiya massacre in 2002, sustained 55 per cent burns and is battling for life at V S Hospital.

Bano had got around Rs 3.5 lakh as compensation after she lost her husband, daughter and six other relatives in the massacre.

The accused was allegedly demanding that money, which she had deposited in a bank.

"The accused, Tanvir Ahmed, is absconding and we are trying to trace him," a police official said on Thursday. "As per the victim Bibi Bano's complaint, he demanded money from her on several occasions. On Tuesday he doused her with kerosene at her house and set her ablaze."

Bano, who is being looked after by a nongovernmental organisation, said Ahmed had been threatening her for several days.

She had also lodged a police complaint in this regard following which Ahmed was arrested and later released on bail.

The victim, who after the riots had moved to a relief camp in Shah Alam area of Ahmedabad, shifted to a house in Vatva area near her sister-in-law's house and that is where she apparently met the accused and got close to him, officials added.

Being a riot witness the government had given her security cover, the officials said, adding that the guard had gone for lunch when the incidence occurred.