Uttar Pradesh: A 15-year-old Muslim boy was set on fire by four people in Chandauli district when the boy refused to chant "Jai Shri Ram".

The incident took place on Sunday night and the boy has been admitted in Kabir Chaura hospital in Varanasi. The condition of the boy with 60 per cent burns is said to be critical. The teenager was set on fire when he refused to chant "Jai Shri Ram". He gave this statement on the hospital's camera. "I was walking on Dudhari bridge when four men kidnapped me. Two of them tied my hand and third one started pouring kerosene. After which they set me on fire and ran away," he said. He later said that he was being forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram".

However, the police are treating this whole case as suspicious.

Chandauli Police claims that the boy set himself on fire and not a group of people. They also said that the boy gave contradictory statements as per Chandauli SP Santosh Kumar Singh who said that they were false.

The SP also added that he was admitted in a hospital with 45 per cent burns and had given different statements to different people, raising doubts that he had seemed to have been tutored. Police monitored CCTV footage of places he had mentioned and found that he had not been at any of those places."

The minor earlier said that he went for a run to Maharajpur village where he met four men who dragged him to a field and set him on fire.

SP Santosh Kumar Singh said, "The victim was referred to BHU where he changed his statement and told the inspector that four men on a motorcycle kidnapped him and took him to Hateeja village." According to the police both Maharajpur village and Hateeja village are located in two different directions.

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