Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh): A truck owner in Uttar Pradesh has been set ablaze for apparently not paying his dues to a financier in Jaunpur district. Two of his attackers are in custody.
Satya Prakash Rai, 51, was set on fire on Wednesday in Ghanshyampur area. Eyewitnesses managed to catch two of the accused, while others managed to escape.
Station Officer (SO) Badlapur Srijesh Yadav said two persons were in police custody while Rai has been admitted to a district hospital.
Rai’s son Shyamanand who was accompanying him on the truck told reporters that they were returning to Azamgarh after loading concrete from Reeva in Madhya Pradesh.
He alleged that when their truck was passing through Badlapur, some car-borne men intercepted them and after posing as agents of a financier, they demanded to know the reason for not paying the monthly instalment of a loan taken by Rai to buy the truck for the past five months.
When they mentioned the provision of relaxations given by the government in repaying the instalments during the Covid-19 pandemic period, the agents first allowed them to go, Shyamanand said.
However, he alleged that the agents again intercepted their truck when it was passing through Ghanshyampur area.
Shyamanand said he was sitting in the cabin and his father got down to talk to the agents when he suddenly heard his father’s cries.
“I saw my father engulfed in flames and took a blanket from the truck’s cabin to save my father while locals started chasing those agents. Two of them were caught and handed over to police by local natives while the other two managed to escape in their car,” Shyamanand added.
Rai was initially rushed to a nearby hospital but in view of his deteriorating condition, doctors referred him to the district hospital.
Station Officer (SO) Badlapur Srijesh Yadav said the two accused were in police custody and further investigation in the case has been initiated on the basis of their interrogation.
–IANS
