Burns victim says dad set him alight, dies

AHMEDABAD: The Navrangpura immolation case took a twist early on Saturday morning when Pavan Jain, 42, who sustained more than 80% burn injuries, outside his father's shop in Navrangpura on Friday afternoon, named his father Gyanchand, 70, as his killer and accused him of mental harassment. Jain died at 3am during treatment at VS Hospital on Saturday.
On Friday, Pavan approached his father at his shop in Navrangpura in the afternoon.The bone of contention was Gyanchand's fair price shop, of which he had given half on rent to Pavan five years ago. At the time - Gyanchand mentioned in his statement to police - it was agreed that Pavan would pay him rent. The father and son were living in separate houses at Jeevan Kamal Society near Shahpur Darwaja.
Gyanchand had said that he had decided to take half of the shop back from Pavan after he failed to pay the rent for five years and locked the shop for the last four days. Pavan approached him on Friday and after a heated argument on the issue, got hold of a can of kerosene, poured the liquid on himself and set himself alight. "In the dying declaration (DD) however, Pavan said that he had indeed poured kerosene on himself and had threatened to kill himself if his father didn't yield. But at that time, Gyanchand allegedly threw a matchstick which burnt him. As this was his last statement before his death, we have converted the case of attempt to suicide into one for murder. As he had alleged the harassment of his wife as well, IPC Section 498A has also been invoked," said a Navrangpura police official.