Muslim boy suffers severe burns, police puzzled by statements

A Muslim youth named Khalid (16) was reportedly attacked on Sunday by a gang of four in Chandauli district in Uttar Pradesh.  The assailants asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and when he didn’t do that, he was allegedly set on fire.

But the police are not convinced and they suspect that the victim may have been tutored to make the claim that he was attacked for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.  As per the SP of the district, the boy has given “different statements which were found to be false in the preliminary investigation, eye witness saw him setting himself ablaze.”

“He was admitted to a hospital with 45% burns. He had given different statements to different people, so it seemed suspicious. It seemed he had been tutored. Police monitored CCTV footage of places he had mentioned and found that he had not been at any of those places,” the SP added.