He lay screaming in agony for 35 minutes after being set ablaze by petrol robbers whose den he had gone to raid; cops say aides were scared to help

A senioru00a0government official out to raid a den of petrol robbers was set ablaze by them and then left to burn to death for more than 30 minutes by his men.

Yashwant Sonawane, Manmad's additional district collector, was doused with petrol and kerosene and set ablaze by a gang of petrol thieves when he raided their premises in the outskirts of Malegaon yesterday.


Additional district collector Yashwant Sonawane was killed by petrol robbers

While his personal assistant (PA), Rajendra Kale, and driver, Kailash Gawli, had accompanied him for the raid, they did not come to his rescue or take him to a hospital as he lay screaming in agony for more than half an hour.

The police reached the spot after nearly 35 minutes to rush Sonawane to a government hospital, but he had already succumbed to 90 per cent burns.

Accused Popat Shinde, who set Sonawane ablaze, on the other hand, managed to escape death with 50 per cent burns as members of his syndicate rushed him to a hospital immediately.

Assistant Police Inspector D K Thobad of Manmad police station, who is investigating the case, said, "Sonawane had gone with his driver and PA to a dhaba, some 11 km from Manmad.
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He saw Shinde removing oil from a tanker and went to stop him.

But, Shinde, who had a kerosene can in his hand, started pouring the highly-inflammable liquid on Sonawane. Seconds later, he lit a matchstick and threw it on the officer."

"Sonawane's men were standing a little distance away when Shinde's men tried to get their boss away. Sonawane, who was ablaze, however, held Shinde in a bear grip.
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It was a gruesome sight they were both burning and smoke was billowing from their partially-charred bodies," said Thobad.

According to the police, Kale and Gawli kept running around instead of helping Sonawane. They were reportedly scared because the gangsters outnumbered them.u00a0

The driver, however, went to the Nandgaon police station 17 km away and was directed to the Manmad police station, 10 km away.

When the Manmad police reached 35 minutes later, they found that Sonawane was already dead.
"We then took him to the hospital for a post mortem," added Thobad.

Arrests

Shinde's men took him to a nearby hospital and then to the civic hospital in Nashik. "We have arrested five accused. Shinde is hospitalised and two others are absconding.
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All suspects named in the FIR are members of the local mafia involved in pilfering oil from tankers carrying consignments for state-owned companies like HPCL, BPCL, and then selling it in the black market.

There are several cases pending against them," said Thobad.

The arrested accused are Rajeshdra Shirsat, Vikas Shinde, Deepak Dhavan Borse, Seetaram Bhalerao and Machindra Suralkar.

Additional Director General of Police K P Raghuvanshi said Shinde had been externed from Manmad in 2006 and 2008.

Home Minister R R Patil said that all the accused should be tried under the provision of the Prevention of Terrorist Activities (POTA) Act.