Girls sing at the inauguration of the annual residential youth camp at Kerala Public School at Kadma. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Oct. 13: Mystery shrouds over the death of a 65-year-old man who succumbed to burn injuries at the Tata Main Hospital on Tuesday.

Admitted to the hospital with almost 80 per cent burns on October 9, Subhas Prasad, a resident of Uliyan in Kadma, told the police he had been set on fire by his eldest son, Nilesh, and his daughter-in-law.

The statement, however, was contradicted by his wife and three sons, including Nilesh, who maintain that Prasad set himself ablaze after an argument with his elder son.

Trouble started some time before the pujas when Prasad?s friend, Mishra, asked him whether he would be able to keep the latter?s son and daughter-in-law at his place for some days. Mishra who stayed at Farm Area in Kadma, was apparently having some trouble at home, the reason why he had requested his friend to provide space.

The idea, however, did not go down well with Nilesh, who objected to the couple moving into their house. Nilesh, who ran a drug store, however, did not live with his father in the same house. He and his wife lived separately with his uncle. It is not known whether Nilesh had arguments with his father earlier on.

According to sources, the father and son were having arguments for some days but it kept growing worse till October 9 night when the mishap took place.

A relative of the deceased claimed it was around 11:30 when they saw flames coming out of Prasad?s bedroom. By the time the door was broken down and Prasad was brought out, a large part of his body was charred, the relative maintained. He was then taken to Tata Main Hospital where before his death two days later, he pinned the blame of the accident onto his son.

On October 10, based on Prasad?s statement, the police had registered a case of attempted murder against Nilesh and wife.

Kadma police station?s officer-in-charge Satyandra Narayan Singh said although the police had to follow the rulebook, there was cases when they had to proceed with the circumstantial evidence.

?We have the dying statement but we cannot turn the case into a murder case in a haste,? the officer said.