Tea stall owner sets himself on fire outside Telangana police station, dies

A tea stall owner died after setting himself on fire at Bheemgal Police Station in Nizamabad. Police linked the incident to alleged threats by two local reporters and a dispute over a petty late-hours case.

In Short

• Police said alleged threats from two local reporters had upset him
• He carried petrol and a matchbox into Bheemgal station premises
• Officers and bystanders doused flames before shifting him for treatment

A tea stall owner who set himself on fire inside a police station in Telangana's Nizamabad district died at a private hospital on Tuesday, a day after the incident, police said.

Police said the 55-year-old man was upset over alleged threats from two local reporters. They also said there was a petty case against him for keeping his tea shop open beyond permitted hours, and Nizamabad Police Commissioner P Sai Chaitanya said on Monday that there was no fault on the part of the police.

The man entered the Bheemgal Police Station premises on Monday carrying a bottle of petrol and a matchbox, police said. He then poured petrol on himself and set himself ablaze. Police personnel and some people present there extinguished the flames and shifted him to hospital. He is suspected to have suffered more than 50 per cent burns.

"He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital while undergoing treatment on Tuesday," a police official said. The official said the body was later shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem.

According to police, the tea shop owner went to the police station and set himself on fire there after being upset over the alleged threats by two local reporters. Police said the owner of a grocery shop had sent the two reporters to threaten the middle-aged man after he recently stopped buying cigarettes and other material from his shop.

Police said a petty case had been registered against him for running his tea shop late into the night, beyond permitted hours, and that a sub-inspector had asked him to pay the fine in court. Commissioner Sai Chaitanya said on Monday that there was no fault on the part of the police in the issue. Police also said a case was registered.

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