RAJULA (GUJARAT): The seven victims of the atrocities by a group of gau rakshaks in Rajula town of Amreli in Gujarat have alleged that the vigilantes were planning to burn them alive in an 8-by-8 feet room.The Dalits said they managed to escape only after some members from their community informed the police, who arrived in the nick of time. The vigilantes, around 30 in number, attacked the seven with iron pipes, baseball bats and swords for nearly two and a half hours on May 22.Pravin alias Ravi Zakhada, one of the seven victims, recalls the horror incident. “Four gau rakshaks held our hands and legs while others took turns to hit us with bats and iron rods. If we uttered a single word, they would beat us more. If that wasn’t enough, some asked their accomplices to bring kerosene to burn us alive in the small room. I saw two persons leaving the room to get kerosene.”Ravi’s father Vinubhai came and saw that his son and others were being thrashed. He informed other community members, who in turn called cops. “We had almost lost hope but police and other community members arrived just in time,” said Ravi, whose right hand was fractured.Even after two months, he is unable to walk properly because of the beating. Another victim, Dileep Babariya, still wakes up in the middle of the night shouting “please don’t hit us, please don’t hit us!”. He is yet to come out of the trauma of the near-death experience.“We consider ourselves lucky as our family members came with cops in time,” he said. Asked about the victims’ claims that the rakshaks planned to burn them alive, DSP (SC/ST cell) Rajula, D G Bharwad, said he was not aware of it as the statement was recorded by his writer.