Representative image showing a police officer.
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Mathura: An elderly farmer at a village in Mathura district mysteriously caught fire when a Revenue Department team reached his hut to evict him and his family from a cooperative society land, an official said on Friday.
The incident took place on Thursday in Khushipura village under the Jaint police station area.
The farmer, Satyabhan, was referred to SN Medical College, Agra, after being taken to a local hospital. His daughter-in-law, Lalitesh, who tried to save him, also injured herself in the process. She is receiving treatment at the district hospital.
Mathura District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh said that Satyabhan and his family have been living in a hut built on Khandsari Cooperative Society land for several decades.
He said the incident took place when a team — Naib Tehsildar Anmol Garg, kanungo Rajendra and lekhpal Kapil — reached the village with police force to vacate the land.
When they began evicting them, Satyabhan's family members started protesting. Soon, a crowd of villagers gathered.
In the meantime, Satyabhan caught fire under suspicious circumstances.
In an attempt to save him, his daughter-in-law sustained burn injuries, too.
Seeing the unexpected development taking place, the team attempted to extinguish the fire along with the farmer's family and villagers.
In the hurry, it could not be known how the fire started and how he got caught in the fire.
Satyabhan's son, Pushpraj, has accused some villagers of sprinkling diesel and setting the hut on fire. He said some villagers want to sell the land where they have been living for the past 30 years.
Pushpraj has demanded that a case be registered against the accused.
Following the incident, the DM suspended kanungo and lekhpal, holding them guilty of negligence and ordered Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Tripathi to probe the matter and submit a report within 24 hours.