The man immolated himself using petrol from his motorcycle in front of the SBI bank. (Representational)
Gonda, UP:
A 25-five-year-old man, who set himself afire outside a bank here allegedly after being denied a loan, succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Lucknow on Thursday, according to officials.
Divyaraj Pandey, who immolated himself on Wednesday, was brought to Lucknow’s King George Medical College in very critical condition with more than 90 per cent burn injuries, said Dr Sandeep, the trauma centre in-charge.
The local administration deployed a police team to maintain law and order at his Sarhara Pandeypurwa village in the Itiyathok area after his death. Senior district officials also visited the family and assured them of all possible assistance.
Pandey immolated himself using petrol from his motorcycle in front of the SBI bank in front of Kotwali on Wednesday, police said, adding his friend Pradeep too sustained burn injuries and has been hospitalised.
Pandey’s family said he got married in 2021 and became father of a baby boy six months ago.
A family member said Pandey had a diploma from the ITI and wanted to start a bottling plant for which he sought a loan from the bank.
“He wanted to do some work, but I don’t know about the loan. He never told me anything,” father Munna Lal Pandey, who is a teacher at a private school, told PTI.
Pandey’s family members alleged that he took the drastic step because the bank officials were not sanctioning his loan.
SBI Regional Manager Gyan Prakash denied the allegations levelled by Pandey’s family.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Prakash said an unknown person tried to do an “illegal act” in front of the bank. “No matter related to his loan was with the bank,” he added.
District Magistrate Neha Sharma has ordered a magisterial probe by city magistrate Chandrashekhar, officials said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
