An elderly woman in-charge of an Anand Marga (a spiritual organisation) ashram school in Bokaro district who had self-immolated on Monday allegedly after verbal exchange with National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) staff died on Tuesday resulting in protest and blockade of NH-23 for two-hours.

According to police sources, the woman identified as Anand Hitwadini Acharya, 68, had a heated exchange with the staff of NHAI and Bokaro district officials on Monday late afternoon while they had gone seeking details of vacating the school situated in Darid panchayat under Peterwar police station area paving the way for construction work of Calcutta-Varanasi Bharatmala Road project (passing through Bokaro).

After the heated exchange, the woman allegedly went inside the kitchen room of the school and set herself on fire using the gas cylinder at around 3pm on Monday.

She was rushed to the nearby community health centre in Peterwar where the doctors declared her dead on Tuesday as the body had more than 80 per cent burn injury.

Police sources further that the ashram school in-charge got infuriated after the NHAI staff and district land acquisition officials informed her that the land compensation amount of ₹ 4.10 crore has already been deposited in a Tenughat court as there was a dispute between the previous in-charge Acharya Sarva Atma Nand and the current in-charge (Anand Hitwadini Acharya).

When the police were preparing to send the body for post-mortem, the Anand Margis along with local villagers protested and blocked the NH-23 (connecting state capital Ranchi and industrial city Jamshedpur with Bokaro) between 11 am and 1.30 pm demanding compensation to the person in whose name the land is at the moment.