New Delhi: The family of the 42-year-old Haryana man who succumbed to burn injuries late Wednesday night, has accused protesters at the Tikri border site of setting him on fire, with the intention of “portraying him as a martyr”.
The victim has been identified as Mukesh Lal, a bus driver and resident of Kasar village in Jhajjar district, which is close to the Tikri protest site.
On the basis of the family’s complaint, an FIR was first lodged Thursday under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 307 (attempt to murder), which was later converted to Section 302 (murder) after Mukesh’s death, at the Sector 6 police station Bahadurgarh.
Speaking to ThePrint, Mukesh’s brother Madan Lal said, “The Samyukt Kisan Morcha people are trying to create a false narrative that my brother died by suicide, saying that he was upset with his family life; that isn’t true. Four men associated with the farmers’ agitation sprinkled petrol on him and killed him.”
He added that the farmers “wanted another scapegoat for their protest”. “It was a conspiracy to show him a martyr for their cause,” Madan said.
Police have arrested Krishan, a resident of Jind, and identified another accused Sandeep. The process of identifying the other two accused is underway, the Bahadurgarh Police said.
Also read: Thin crowds show farm protests in crisis, Haryana Police says. Farmers disagree, blame Covid
‘I was set on fire’
According to the FIR accessed by ThePrint, Mukesh had left his village for an evening stroll at around 5 pm Wednesday evening and reached the Tikri farmers’ protest site.
“I was informed on the telephone that some protesters with the intention of killing my brother, sprinkled oil on him and set him on fire,” Madan’s complaint reads. “When I reached the spot, with our village sarpanch, the protesters asked us to block the roads, but we refused and immediately called for a car and took Mukesh to Civil hospital, Bahadurgarh.”
Mukesh was later taken to Brahm Shakti Hospital in Bahadurgarh, where he succumbed to his injuries. The complaint further mentions that Mukesh told the sarpanch that he did not set himself on fire.
“I didn’t burn myself, there was a man in white clothes, named Krishan who poured oil on me and burnt me,” the complaint quotes Mukesh as having said.
The investigating officer, Inspector Jaibhagwan, told ThePrint that this is being considered as Mukesh’s dying declaration.
“The victim had given a statement — the dying declaration against the accused. We have video evidence of his statement recorded at the Civil Hospital where he has said that he didn’t set himself on fire,” the inspector said.
“Krishan, whose name has been mentioned in the FIR, was participating in the farmers protest at Tikri site,” the inspector added. “Investigations have revealed that the accused and the victim were drinking and got into a scuffle, which soon turned into a fight. Matters escalated and the accused set Mukesh on fire.”
Madan added that his brother is not a part of the agitation and would go near the site only for evening strolls and that the accused were not known to him earlier. Mukesh is survived by his wife and a 10-year-old child.
“We are poor people, we do mazdoori. Who will feed his wife and child now?” Madan asked.
Attempt to defame farmers agitation
The protesting farmers have denied the allegations.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of the protesting farmers, has termed the incident as an “unfortunate case of suicide”, adding that its volunteers had tried to douse the fire and save Mukesh’s life.
“Yesterday night, a person was seen around the HP petrol pump. Soon he poured petrol and set himself on fire. As soon as the kisan morcha volunteers noticed it, they rushed in to douse fire and save his life,” the statement reads. “They learnt that this attempted suicide was spurred by a conflict in his family. An employee from the petrol pump identified Mukesh and informed his family who took him to hospital. It is shocking that the farmers who tried their best to save an unknown person are now being implicated in attempt to murder.”
The morcha has called this an attempt to “defame and slander the ongoing farmers’ movement”, adding that the incident is being used by “the BJP-JJP government, its political agents and their troll army to somehow implicate the farmers movement”. The farmers body has asked for a fair probe and assured full cooperation.
In a video released by the farmers association, also posted by Yogendra Yadav on Twitter, Mukesh is being asked by a man if he did this to himself and the reason behind it.
Mukesh, seen in a charred state in the video shot in pitch dark, is purportedly heard saying, “I did it because I have been upset with my family.”
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
Also read: Covid can’t touch us, say protesting Haryana farmers, but toll in villages tells another story