WARANGAL: Four BJP leaders, including Warangal (Urban) party chief Rao Padma, suffered burns during a protest against the sexual assault and murder of a nine-month-old girl in the city on Monday when a party worker poured petrol over a burning effigy of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Local BJP leader Bingi Srinivas suffered about 40 per cent burns and is said to be in a critical condition.
The mishap occurred when the BJP workers, led by Rao Padma, were setting fire to an effigy as a mark of protest at Ambedkar Circle.
As the effigy caught fire, the party worker poured petrol over it, causing the flames to shoot up. The flames engulfed Srinivas, Padma and others.
While Padma received burns on her arms, the other two received burns on their legs.
Further, the party workers, while taking their leaders to hospital, clashed with police personnel. A few workers destroyed the police van in anger, creating chaos and tension. The police later shifted all the injured leaders to a corporate hospital.
BJP workers blamed the police for the entire incident. They claimed that if the police had let them protest peacefully, the accident would not have happened in the first place.