Bheemgal: In a gruesome incident reported from the Nizamabad district of Telangana, a 55-year-old tea stall owner died on Tuesday, a day after setting himself on fire inside a police station.
The man allegedly took the step after being threatened by two reporters.
The incident occurred at the Bheemgal Police Station on Monday. The man arrived at the station carrying a bottle of petrol and a matchbox, the police said. He then went himself on fire inside the police station premises, India Today reported.
Police personnel and others present at the spot immediately rushed to help him, put out the flames, and shifted him to a private hospital for treatment.
However, he had suffered more than 50 per cent burns and succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday while undergoing treatment, a police official said. The body has been shifted to a government hospital for a post-mortem examination.
The police said that the tea stall owner was upset over alleged threats from two local reporters. According to investigators, the reporters had allegedly threatened him at the behest of a grocery shop owner after the tea stall owner stopped buying cigarettes and other items from the grocery shop, the report said.
A petty case had earlier been registered against the man for keeping his tea stall open beyond the permitted hours, the police said. A sub-inspector had reportedly asked him to pay the fine in court.
There was no fault on the part of the police in connection with the incident, Nizamabad Police Commissioner P Sai Chaitanya had said on Monday. He maintained that the action taken against the tea stall owner was limited to the petty case related to operating the shop beyond the allowed time.
A case has been registered, the police said and further investigation is underway to determine all the circumstances that led to the incident.