Navyman Set Afire Took Rs 24.45 L Loan to Trade Stocks: Maha Cops

Twenty-six-year-old Navyman died from 90 percent burn injuries after his attackers set him on fire in a forest.

Suraj Kumar Dubey died at a Mumbai hospital from injuries sustained after he was set on fire in a forest in the adjoining Palghar district. 

(image: The Quint)

The Palghar Police, probing the case of a navy sailor Surajkumar Dubey who succumbed to injuries sustained after he was set afire in a forest, has claimed on Sunday, 7 February, that the late leading seaman had taken three loans amounting to Rs 22.45 lakh to invest in stocks, reported The Indian Express.

Dubey took a loan of Rs 8 lakh from his bank. He borrowed Rs 5.45 lakh from his colleague and Rs 9 lakh from his in-laws, the report added.

Dubey deposited the loan money in two stock brokerage firms. The police found Rs 302 in one of his bank accounts and Rs 90 in the other.

Further, the police noted that Dubey had three phones, including one that his family was unaware of. He used it to trade stocks. There have been 13 suspicious phone calls that Dubey had received in Jharkhand, where he was asked when he would arrive in Chennai, reported The Indian Express. The police are currently tracing these call details.

Ten teams have been formed to investigate the case, said the Palghar SP Dattatray Shinde to Hindustan Times.

The Incident

In a horrific incident, Suraj Kumar Dubey, 26, suffered 90 percent burn injuries after his attackers set him on fire. He was allegedly kidnapped from Chennai on 30 January.

According to the police, the alleged kidnappers believed that they would not receive the ransom of Rs 10 lakh that they had demanded. The Palghar Police have registered a murder case against unknown persons.

Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Chennai Police Commissioner, told The Quint, “Two cases have been registered in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. A team from Maharashtra has come to Chennai to do the investigation and we are extending support to them.”

“We have accessed CCTV footage from near the Chennai airport and are investigating the matter. We can't conclusively say (that the incident took place in the airport premises) as it is an ongoing investigation, but it doesn't look like it,” said the Commissioner of Police.

Police said he was then taken to a forest in Palghar’s Gholwad area, where kerosene was poured over him and he was set on fire.

The villagers who found him informed the local police, who admitted him at a local hospital. He was shifted to the Asvini naval hospital in Mumbai and was declared dead upon arrival, an NDTV report stated.

(With inputs from The Indian Express, NDTV and Hindustan Times)