A 27-year-old man set over a dozen two-wheelers, belonging to residents of the society he lived in, on fire after his mother denied him money for drugs in Pune on Wednesday. The incident, which was caught on CCTV, took place around 3 am in a residential colony in Pimpri Chinchwad.
The video shows the man, Swapnil Shivsharan Pawar, pouring what looked like some kind of fuel on the parked two-wheelers. He then set them on fire with a lighter and ran away.
At least 13 vehicles were charred, officials said.
He was arrested shortly after the residents filed a complaint.
According to Swapnil's mother, he reached home around 2-3 am and asked for money. When she denied it, he threatened to set them and the entire building they live in on fire. She also requested the police not to leave him out on bail.
"I request the police to not leave him from jail. Because of him, the entire family has been disturbed. We have a bank loan to pay as well. Don't leave him. If they leave him, he will burn us and the entire building. He has threatened to burn those living in the opposite slums as well...Thankfully, the residents have asked us to evict yet. I don't know where we will go if they throw us out," she said.
Swapnil's brother also made a similar request to the police.
"He has been troubling our family for the past 10 years. He is addicted to weed and alcohol. We have sent him to rehab multiple times, but now he threatens to either kill himself or us. I request the police not to leave him. Otherwise, he will try to kill us. He even threatened to burn down the entire building," he said.
According to him, they kept giving him money, fearing for their lives. "But now my mother has finally put her foot forward," he said.
One of the residents said that while Swapnil is addicted to drugs, he is intelligent.
"He studied engineering...They have taken him to a doctor multiple times. His family's life is in danger," he said.
Swapnil is currently in police custody, officials said.
