The Chandauli police today took to Twitter and posted the conversation it recorded with Dinesh Maurya, a witness to the entire Chandauli incident. Maurya, a hawker by profession yesterday witnessed a wanton attempt of self-immolation that was given a communal flair by propagandists in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. The usual fearmongers continued to spread falsehood by lying that a Muslim boy was set on fire for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram.”

In the recorded video, the eyewitness mentions when he reached the spot where the incident transpired yesterday, there were few people already present there, most of whom were women.

He added that when he reached the police station along with the victim and here some people tried to put words in his mouth. They asked the victim to name one ‘Sunil’ behind the perpetrated crime. However, the eyewitness said he asked the people not to lie as he was present at the crime scene and no one named ‘Sunil’ had set the Muslim boy ablaze. The eyewitness claimed he tried his best to convince the people to refrain from giving the unfortunate incident a communal colour by peddling lies.

Maurya was questioned about the claims that few men in saffron-coloured clothes were present at the scene where the incident transpired, forcing the victim to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. He clarified these were rumours and no such people were present when the Muslim boy set himself on fire in a dargah (maazar). He termed such claims as lies suggesting the victim has been giving different stories all this while.

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Meanwhile, few more people can also be heard in the video, confirming the angle being given to the entire episode was fabricated and that nothing as such had transpired. They are heard saying that people present near the Mazaar were all good people and no one was involved in the crime.

Yesterday, Chandauli police had issued a statement on its social media account through, which it clarified that Muslim boy named Khalid Ansari, a resident of Township of Lohia Nagar town of Thana Syedaraja, who claimed that he was set on fire for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ was fake and fabricated by few people with an intention to spread communal discord.

In fact, the police also mentioned that an eyewitness whom the police had spoken to claimed that he saw the Muslim boy set himself on fire in a dargah (maazar). His burnt clothes and a slipper was also found from the dargah.

As soon as this news started doing rounds on the social media, the usual suspects sensing an opportunity to not let facts get in the way of agenda quickly proceeded to exploit the situation by giving it a communal flair. Despite UP police’s clarification that teenager self-immolated, a coterie of self-proclaimed liberals continued to peddle lies claiming he was set on fire for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram.”