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Guwahati, Sept. 9: Investigations have revealed that Prafulla Das, the Dimoria College student who burnt his friend and junior Nitumoni Das to death on Monday, did so in an inebriated state.

“After investigations, we have come to the conclusion that Prafulla committed the crime under the influence of alcohol,” a police officer investigating the case said.

Prafulla had poured kerosene on Nitumoni and set him on fire when the latter came to his room in the mess at Sankargog on Monday afternoon. The 20-year-old fresher, who suffered severe burn injuries, died at a private nursing here that night.

The police officer said Ashim Hira “who lives in a room next to Prafulla’s and was a witness to the crime” has told them that Prafulla was under the influence of liquor when the incident took place. “We have also recovered liquor bottles and cigarette packets from the scene of crime,” he added.

“We are not sure whether the victim was also drunk when the incident happened. We will wait for the post-mortem report before coming to a final conclusion,” he said.

The post-mortem was conducted at The GMCH yesterday. Nitumoni was cremated in his village, Morigohain, in Morigaon district last night.

The officer said before Nitumoni died, he had reportedly told his mother, Moon, that Prafulla had set him on fire after he refused to give him his T-shirt. “But we are not sure whether it was the sole provocation for the crime. At least to us and at this stage of investigation that alone does not seem to be a tenable reason for the murder,” he observed.

The officer said Prafulla seemed to have acted in a fit of rage and committed the crime on the spur of the moment.

“The murder was not planned but we are not yet absolutely sure about the motive. We will figure out the exact provocation for the murder when we are able to catch hold of Prafulla, who is now absconding,” he said.

The police have conducted a series of raids at various places in the past 24 hours to apprehend Prafulla.

“We have raided almost all the probable places in search of the accused, including his residence in Morigaon town. We have got some vital leads on his whereabouts and hope to apprehend him soon,” the officer said.

He refused to divulge further, saying investigations were under way.