In a shocking incident from Kurla West, a 21-year-old youth was allegedly set on fire by his own friends while they were celebrating his birthday. The victim, identified as Abdul Rehman, suffered burn injuries and is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
According to the police, the incident took place around midnight on 25 November at Kohinoor City, where Abdul Rehman lives with his family. As per the complaint filed by the victim’s brother, five friends — Ayaz Malik, Ashraf Malik, Kasim Chaudhary, Huzaifa Khan and Sharif Shaikh — called Abdul downstairs to celebrate his birthday. They had brought a cake along.
However, as soon as Abdul came down and began cutting the cake, the group started throwing eggs and stones at him. The situation escalated when one of the accused fetched a bottle containing a flammable liquid — suspected to be petrol — from a scooter and poured it on Abdul before setting him on fire.
CCTV footage from the society shows Abdul desperately removing his burning clothes in an attempt to save himself. Despite this, he sustained burn injuries and was immediately rushed to a nearby City Hospital, where he is currently receiving treatment.
Based on the victim’s complaint, the Vinoba Bhave Police registered a case under Sections 3(5) and 110 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). All five accused have been arrested and were produced in court, which remanded them to police custody till 29 November.
Police are further investigating whether the flammable substance used was petrol and whether the act was part of a pre-planned conspiracy.