Telangana tea seller sets himself ablaze outside police station, cops cite dispute with grocer over cigarettes

A 55-year-old tea stall owner in Nizamabad district of Telangana reportedly attempted suicide by setting himself on fire in the premises of a police station in this district on Monday.

While the police said that the man was allegedly upset over being threatened by two local reporters, some local residents and political activists in Bheemgal town held protest seeking action against a Sub-Inspector of Police, who had booked a petty case against the tea stall owner, news agency PTI reported.

The 55-year-old man reportedly walked to the police station with a matchbox and a bottle of petrol on Monday morning. He then set himself ablaze outside a police station and some police personnel and people present there intervened and extinguished the flames after which he was taken to a hospital.

What the police said

Police cited an alleged rivalry with a grocery shop owner as a cause of the distress for the tea stall owner, which may have prompted him to take the extreme step. Police said the owner of a grocery shop had sent two reporters to threaten the middle-aged man after he recently stopped buying cigarettes and other material from his shop.

The police had registered a petty case against him for running his tea shop during late-night hours and he was asked by a Sub-Inspector of Police to pay the fine in court. The case was registered as part of routine enforcement duties, The Times of India quoted police officials as saying.

Nizamabad Police Commissioner P Sai Chaitanya said there was no fault on part of the police in the issue.