Boy tried to burn himself to gain girl's sympathy, say police

Delhi Police on Wednesday said the boy, who claimed last week that three youth misbehaved with his friend and poured petrol and tried to set him ablaze when he came to her rescue, had indeed tried to burn himself to gain girl's sympathy.

Police said the boy, Dilip, 19, did so to prove to the girl, 17, to what extent he could go for her. He also wrote in one of his letters out of the 50 written with blood that he wanted to do this for her to prove his true love.

"Dilip on November 23 informed the police in Maharshi Valmiki Hospital that when he was walking on the road near Shri Krishna Gaushala Bawana in Kanjhawala area (in north-west Delhi) with his female friend, three persons on a bike came and started whistling at the girl, which he objected to.

"Dilip said as he got engaged in an argument with them, one of the three took out a bottle filled with petrol from the dicky of bike and threw on him and then ignited it with a match stick," Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajneesh Gupta said.

Dilip had received burn injuries in chest and back.

"But the versions of Dilip and his friend did not fully match. When interrogated, the girl spilled out that Dilip had actually poured the inflammable material himself which he had brought with him in his bag," Gupta said.

"The actual place of incident and various clues confirmed that the boy had indeed tried to burn himself in the presence of girl. He tried to fabricate a story to impress her and gain her sympathy," the officer said.

"Both stay with their families on different floors of same building in Nangloi for the last five years," he added.

--IANS

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