A 21-year-old college student who was allegedly “set on fire” by his friends in Kurla on Monday after they invited him to cut his birthday cake was a case of a prank gone wrong, said police.
While the family members of Abdul Rehman Khan, who sustained 35 per cent burns and is recuperating at the hospital, have alleged that the friends bullied him in the past as well, the police said their intention was not to cause him harm.
The five have been arrested by the police.
The incident had taken place on Monday when the accused called Abdul to come out of his house to cut his birthday cake around 12 am. They, however, started playing pranks by throwing eggs at him, police said.
According to police, as he was about to cut the cake, one of them who had petrol in a bottle, poured it on him and another was scaring him with a lighter when Abdul’s shirt actually caught fire and he had to be rushed to the hospital.
A family member told mediapersons that the five accused who have been arrested are Abdul’s friends and they have bullied him in the past as well.
“They had invited him to cut his birthday cake last year as well but he did not go. They would harass him and hence he avoided them.
This time however they called him and said they got a cake for him and hence he decided to go,” a family member said.
Story continues below this ad
The family said that they resided in the same area and recently they had moved to a bigger building. The family has questioned why the police have not invoked an attempt to murder case against the five persons.
Senior inspector of VB Nagar police Popat Avhad said, “We have arrested the five accused on charges of attempt to culpable homicide. We have not invoked an attempt to murder as it appears it was a prank gone wrong and they actually did not intend to set him on fire.”
“They were carrying petrol in a bottle as one of the accused’s bikes had run out of fuel and they were using the bottle to transfer petrol from another bike,” he said.
The officer said that they have recorded the statement of Abdul and he too has not made any allegations against them.
