Man who set Dalit man on fire says he killed him in fit of rage

Four days after a Dalit man was set on fire allegedly by the upper caste family members of his woman friend in Hardoi’s Bhadaicha village, the accused Radhe Gupta has conceded his crime, said the police.

“Gupta, who is woman’s uncle has accepted that he could not control his anger after seeing Abhishank (victim) with his niece in her room,” said the police. Interestingly, the accused statement is in contradiction with the complainant’s story, which said Abhishank was stopped by two village youth, Satyam Singh and Shikhar Singh, when he was coming to a hospital for his mother’s treatment after taking money from home.

“He had a scuffle with them and they took him to Gupta’s house and burnt him alive,” said Ajay Pal Singh, victim’s uncle on whose complaint an FIR was lodged. Victim Abhishank in his dying statement had also told a similar story. Before he was referred to Lucknow hospital, Abhishank told his family members that he had an altercation with Satyam and Shikhar at Gupta’s shop when he was returning from home.

Circle officer (City) Vijay Kumar Rana said, “Three of the accused have given their statements and the local court remanded them to the judicial custody of 14 days today.”

About the probe, Rana said, “We are investigating the matter. We have a long list of people witness to the crime. It is just the beginning. Our teams are out to nab two persons absconding in this case.” He added, “Accused has been contradicting the complainant’s version. We will dig out the truth. Initially, there was a story floated by one of the accused that he committed suicide fearing mob lynching but it was not true.”One of the eyewitnesses in the case, Nand Ram, said, “I was sleeping at that time (Saturday night). I heard some noise. When I came out, I saw smoke coming out of Gupta’s room which he used as a store.”

He added, “When I opened the door, I saw the man tied on the cot. Gupta was saying his honour has come to the dust because of this person… Put more petrol on him.”