Unidentified Tibetan man sets self on fire in Dharamsala
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, July 29: An unidentified Tibetan man has died after burning himself today in Dharamshala on the circumambulation path around the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s residence.
The Tibetan man who has not been identified was seen engulfed in fire on the circumambulation path by a local Tibetan around 3 pm today.
“I saw the man engulfed in a ball of fire while I was on circumambulating; it was around 3:10 pm. I quickly made calls to my friends and informed Tibetan Youth Congress,” Tenzin Dorjee, the lone witness who saw the Tibetan man engulfed in fire told Tibet Express.
Quickly, local Tibetans gathered around the scene and before long, local police arrived and cordoned the area as the unidentified Tibetan’s body lay under the bushes. Police have recovered a red carry bag containing a black umbrella and a Tibetan national flag.
The forensic experts arrived at the scene shortly thereafter and took hold of the yellow bottle caps found at the site which appears to be caps of bottles containing kerosene that the unidentified Tibetan man has apparently used to douse himself, a matchbox and a total of INR 800/- in various denominations. They measured the scene and took some pictures.
The identity of the Tibetan man and the reason behind the incident still remain unknown.
“Nothing can be confirmed at the moment and we can’t rule out anything now before the post-mortem,” Rajendra Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of police Kangra said.
The police took hold of the charred body to conduct postmortem. Investigations are on.
