On Tuesday (March 9), a man tried to set himself on fire at the residence of the sitting Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Congress legislator Balasaheb Thorat.
As per reports, the victim is a resident of the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Identified as Pandurang Wagh, he attempted suicide for not receiving the refund from the Maharashtra government for the licence fee paid for a stalled sand mining project.
Reportedly, Wagh had obtained his licence for sand extraction in 2018 for a fee of ₹8.72 lac. However, the project had to be discontinued over frequent ‘protests’ by locals, resulting in huge monetary loss.
Distraught by the stalling of the project, the victim tried to approach the revenue Department authorities for a refund of the licence fee. However, when he failed to get his refund, Wagh decided to end his life. In order to draw the attention of the sitting Minister Balasaheb Thorat, the victim poured petrol over himself and set himself on fire in the special executive officer hall of Royal Stone (the residence of Thorat).
Victim arrested, released on bail later
He was saved by the police officials present at the residence of the Revenue Minister. While speaking about the incident, Senior Inspector (Gamdevi) Rg Rajbhar stated, “Wagh was detained and taken to the police station. We arrested him under section 309 (Attempt to commit suicide) of Indian Penal Code and released him on bail with a warning not to repeat such act in future.”