Man sets himself on fire near Parliament, hospitalised with 95 pc burns

NEW DELHI: A man in his early 30s is undergoing treatment for 95 per cent burns after he set himself on fire near the new Parliament building on Wednesday afternoon, officials said here.

Delhi Fire Services officials said the incident occurred around 3.35 pm near the Railway Bhawan opposite the Parliament building.

They said security personnel deployed near Parliament rushed the man, identified as Jitendra of Uttar Pradesh's Bagpat, to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.

The man suffered 95 per cent deep burns and is undergoing treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the burns department, a professor in the department of medicine at the hospital said.

Dr Pulin Kumar Gupta, who is also the RML's media head, said a team of doctors were taking care of him.

According to an official statement, "He set himself on fire at the roundabout near Rail Bhawan. The local police and railway police, along with some people, immediately extinguished the fire and the person was sent to hospital."

According to initial investigations, the man took the extreme step due to a dispute with some people back home in Bagpat, it said.

Carrying a bag containing some clothes and a notebook, he sat on the footpath for a few minutes before pouring some chemicals over himself and setting himself on fire, a police officer said.

"With his body engulfed in the flames, he ran on the road and fell. Security personnel put the blanket on him to douse the fire," he said.

Police said Jitendra took a train to Delhi's Shahdara railway station on Wednesday morning. His half-burnt backpack and some other belongings were seized from the spot.

A general ticket of Rs 15 has also been recovered from his pocket, police said.

Sources said police have found that some cases were going on against him and his family members in Bagpat and he was upset over it.

The officer said the man's family members have been contacted and further investigations were on.