A 25-year-old man was tied to a tree and set afire by the family of a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh district late on Monday night, police said.
The man, a resident of Bhujauni under Fatanpur police station, died on the spot.
Upset over his death, his family and locals turned violent and set two police vehicles on fire, police said. The situation was brought under control by additional force from nearby police stations led by senior officers, they added.
Abhishek Singh, Pratapgarh's superintendent of police, said as per reports some people barged into the house of Ambika Patel and dragged him away. They then tied Patel to a tree some distance away and set him on fire after sprinkling petrol on him before fleeing the spot.
Soon, his family members and villagers assembled at the site and turned violent demanding immediate arrest and action against the perpetrators.
They also set a 112 police response vehicle (PRV) and another police jeep on fire. This also forced the far outnumbered policemen to flee. Singh rushed to the village with an additional police force and brought the situation under control.
Police said that Patel's relatives claimed that he was having an affair with the woman from his village and this had resulted in many face-offs between the families.
Patel had reportedly shared a video clip of the woman on social media a few months ago further increasing tension between the families. The woman had been recently selected as a police constable and was posted to Kanpur.
The woman's family members registered a police complaint against Patel in this connection at the Fatanpur police station resulting in his arrest. He was released from jail recently, police added.
Singh said a first information report (FIR) had been registered on the complaint of the victim's family and efforts were on to nab the accused.
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