Kolkata, May 25 : In an unfortunate incident, a lottery seller was set on fire by unknown miscreants on the open roads at Midnapore town in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal on Saturday.
The local people after somehow extinguishing the fire shifted the lottery seller with the help of police first to a local hospital and subsequently to a hospital in Kolkata.
The condition of the victim, Surajit Sau, is extremely critical with minute chances of survival.
Eyewitnesses said that on Saturday morning while Sau was sitting at his small roadside lottery selling stall, suddenly a group of miscreants arrived at the spot, sprinkled petrol all over his body, and set the body on fire.
While miscreants vanished from the spot immediately, the victim lottery seller rushed out of the shop and started running indiscriminately and shouting profusely.
“He was desperately running through a lane where several vehicles and motorcycles were parked. There could have been an even bigger mishap,” said a local eyewitness.
Some local youths finally managed to get near him and extinguish the fire.
The policemen from the local police station came and first shifted the victim to a local hospital.
Later, considering his serious burn injuries he was shifted to a hospital in Kolkata.
The locals told the police that as Sau complained to them he was receiving ransom threats from local miscreants for running his small tea stall.
“Three miscreants came to the spot in a motorcycle on which they vanished after setting Sau on fire,” a local eyewitness said.
“The policemen have started a detailed investigation in the matter and the footage of the CCTV cameras in the locality is being checked,” said an investigating official.
The policemen doubt that the miscreants were known to Sau.
Local BJP leaders have alleged that in the recent period, the activities of anti-social elements in Midnapore town have increased manifold and the local police are reluctant to take action against them despite complaints from local people.
–IANS