Kanpur: A 90-year-old Dalit man was attacked with an ax and set on fire for trying to enter a temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Police on October 2 identified the victim as Chimma. The nonagenarian had gone to the Maidani Baba temple with his wife, son and brother on Wednesday. He was stopped from entering the temple by a man named Sanjay Tiwari.

When Chimma did not relent, Tiwari allegedly attacked him with an axe and then set him on fire.

The incident took place in the presence of several other worshipers in Bilgaon, a village on the boundary between Hamirpur and Jalaun districts located 140 km from Kanpur, an industrial town in Uttar Pradesh.

Police said they have arrested Tiwari who was nabbed by other people present in the area. They said he was drunk at the time of the incident, The Hindustan Times reported.

An eyewitness said Tiwari had asked Chimma and several others not to enter the temple but they refused.

He said Tiwari became furious and attacked the Dalit man with an ax. While Chimma’s wife screamed for help, Tiwari doused the elderly man with kerosene and set him afire, the eyewitness said.

Two aides of Tiwari, who were named in the First Information Report filed by police, are on the run, said Mukesh Aghi, president of the US-Indian Business Council.