Kin say UP teen set on fire after he refused to chant Jai Shri Ram

While an FIR has been registered against unidentified persons, the police have said there are “contradictions” in the statements of the boy as he has named three different spots when asked where the incident took place.

Chandauli SP Santosh Kumar Singh said initial probe suggests that the allegations made by the boy were false and it was suspected that he set himself on fire owing to superstitious beliefs.

“We were told that a minor boy of Lohia Nagar town was set on fire. The boy was taken to hospital. An FIR was registered on the complaint of the boy’s brother, alleging that unidentified members of a certain community in Manrajpur village set him on fire. In different statements, the boy named three villages as the place where the incident occurred,” said the SP.

“The boy was referred to BHU trauma centre and later to the burns ward at Varanasi district hospital. By Sunday afternoon, the victim’s family alleged that some people asked him to chant Jai Shri Ram and set him afire when he refused,” he said, adding that a probe is on.