A timber merchant based in Raiganj allegedly escaped an attempt by two persons to burn him alive over a loan of ₹15,000 on Thursday.

Trader Surajit Das of Daspara in Subhasganj, a locality under Raiganj police station limits, alleged that three persons attacked him and two of them even tried to set him on fire on the premises of Raiganj Government Medical College & Hospital (RGMCH) where he reached for treatment of his injuries.

Two persons have been arrested in this connection.

Surajit said that on Thursday evening, he went to a tea stall in his locality and met cab drivers Prakash Mridha and Ramprasad Das.

“I owe around ₹15,000 from Mridha. When I asked him to return my money, there was an altercation. Suddenly, both Mridha and Das attacked me. Das’s daughter Rupa hit me on my head with a brick. Some bystanders took me to the hospital,” he recounted.

According to Surajit, while was on his way to the male surgical ward of the RGMCH to get admitted, Mridha and Das reached there.

“I thought they had come to meet me. Suddenly, one of them took out a bottle and threw petrol at me. Another took out a matchbox, lit a matchstick, and tossed it at me. I somehow ran to escape the burning matchstick. They tried to kill me on the hospital premises,” Surajit alleged, but could not specify who had thrown the petrol and who had tossed the burning matchstick.

He said his shouts alerted hospital staff.

“We heard a commotion and came out to see a person running and shouting for help. We also smelt petrol,” said a nurse.

Sounak Kumar Ghosh, the assistant superintendent of RGMCH, said they sought a report from the private security agency responsible for guarding the hospital.

“How can a person enter the hospital with petrol? The agency has to submit a report,” said Ghosh.

Mridha and Das were arrested and produced in court here on Friday, which ordered them 14 days in judicial custody. Investigations are on.