A man in his early 30s set himself on fire near the new Parliament building on Wednesday afternoon, officials said here.
Delhi Fire Services officials said the incident occurred around 3.35pm near Railway Bhawan opposite the Parliament building.
They said security personnel deployed near Parliament rushed the man, identified as Jitendra of Uttar Pradesh’s Bagpat, to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.
Jitendra has suffered 95 per cent burns and is undergoing treatment in the ICU, a professor in the department of medicine at the hospital said.
Dr Pulin Kumar Gupta, the RML’s media head, said a team of doctors was attending to Jitendra.
“He set himself on fire at the roundabout near Rail Bhawan. The local police and railway police, along with some people, immediately extinguished the fire and the person was sent to hospital,” an official statement said.
According to the initial investigation, Jitendra took the extreme step over a dispute with some people back home in Bagpat, it said.
Sources said the police had found out that some cases had been lodged against Jitendra and he and his family were upset over it.
Carrying a bag containing some clothes and a notebook, he sat on the footpath for a few minutes before pouring a chemical over himself and setting himself on fire, a police officer said.
“With his body engulfed in flames, he ran on the road and fell. Security personnel put a blanket on him to douse the fire,” he said.
The police said Jitendra had taken a train to Delhi’s Shahdara station on Wednesday morning. His half-burnt backpack and some other belongings were seized from the spot.
A general ticket of ₹15 has also been recovered from his pocket, the police said.
The officer said Jitendra’s family members had been contacted and a probe was underway.