Pune: Son was burnt alive after he said he was Hindu, alleges teen’s father
23, Jan 2016
Jan 23, 2016 |
• pune
Sawan sustained severe burns when accused set him ablaze with petrol.
Pune: Days after a 17-year-old ragpicker was allegedly murdered by three persons here after setting him afire, his father and some right-wing activists claimed he was killed because he was a ‘Hindu’ and the brutality meted out to him was like an act of ISIS.
However, police have denied any communal angle behind the murder of Sawan Rathod in Kasba Peth area of the city last week. Sawan, a pavement dweller, was hospitalised last Wednesday after he sustained severe burns when the accused trio, suspecting his involvement in stealing vehicle batteries, poured petrol on him and set him ablaze on January 13. He died in hospital on January 15.
“When my son was admitted to hospital, he told me that he was set on fire by three suspects after they came to know that he was Hindu,” Sawan’s father Dharma claimed.
Milind Ekbote, president of ‘Samast Hindu Aghadi’, alleged that the amount of cruelty exerted by three suspects was “inhuman” and the act resembles the “modus operandi” of Islamic State (ISIS). He demanded a probe by ATS into the incident.
Ekbote said they will organise a protest at the Police Commissioner’s office here on January 27.
Activists of various right-wing bodies said the police had botched up the investigation in the case.
“We had given a video clip to the cops in which the deceased was seen telling that he was set on fire by three suspects, after they came to know that he was ‘Hindu’.