A birthday celebration turned into a near death experience for a man in Mumbai after his friends tried to burn him alive. A group of five friends invited one of their friends, Abul Rehman Maksood Alam Khan, on the pretext of cutting cake and celebrating his birthday. However, as soon as Abul began cutting the cake, they executed their original plan of burning him alive. A case of attempted murder has been registered.
It was November 24, the eve of Abul Rehman Maksood Alam Khan's birthday. At around 8 in the night, one of his friends, Ayaz Malik, called to inform him about the cake cutting ceremony plan. Elated, the 21-year-old Abul, hopped on board with the plan.
Later, at midnight, another friend, Sharif, called and asked Abul to come to wing number 26 of the Kohinoor Phase 3 society. When Abul went downstairs, he was welcomed by five friends - Ayaz Malik, Ashraf Malik, Qasim Chaudhary, Huzaifa Khan, and Sharif Sheikh - and a cake.
The celebration turned deadly as soon as Abul picked up a knife to cut the cake and ring in his birthday. Everyone started throwing stones at him, said the victim.
Meanwhile, Ayaz brought a bottle of petrol and began pouring it on Abul along with the help of Ashraf.
Abul smelled the petrol and began screaming and questioning "What are you doing?" Three other accused tried to catch hold of Abul and kept saying, "Pour it."
As Abul tried to run away, Ayaz Malik allegedly set him on fire using his lighter. Within seconds, Abul's clothes caught fire, and he ran for his life.
The victim ran towards the adjacent building. He took a water bottle from the security guard and poured it on himself, but it was not enough to douse the fire. He then ran to the nearest tap and kept pouring water on himself till the fire was extinguished.
Huzaifa, one of the accused, took Abul to the city hospital for treatment.
Abul, a second-year student of the Bachelor of Accounting and Finance program at Guru Nanak Khalsa College in Mumbai, has suffered severe burn injuries on his face, ears, hair, chest, both arms, and right hand.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered, and five friends have been named in the case of attempted murder.
