India: Government Official Burnt Alive by Miscreants · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

In a gruesome incident, an additional district collector was burnt alive   today  – allegedly by petrol and diesel mafia while investigating fuel related irregularities. The government officer was from Malegaon and the incident took place in Manmad, in Maharashtra's Nashik district. As the news broke, netizens reacted with shock and outrage.
Blogger Urmishtha wrote on her blog:
It was a shocking news to watch sometime back about Additional DC Yashwant Sonawane's brutal murder! The First Additional DC of the Malegaon District in Nashik was burnt alive by the oil mafia while he was on duty.
Something is terribly going wrong with the mindsets and attitude of people, and especially with the law and order situation of not only any state but the entire nation. Cities which were known as  the faces of their cultural, economic, traditional heritage and  progress; are gradually losing their identity and are now gaining a  status for all the wrong reasons. Nashik is now a city popularly known as home for the oil and kerosene mafia of the state!
Yashwant Sonawane, who was on his way for a meeting to some other place, sensed someting fishy goings-on at a place somewhere 10kms away from Manmad. He  immediately went to check at the spot and saw the oil marketeers involved in adulterating. The magnitude of this racket seems to be so  strengthened and their conscience so dead, that they burnt alive this officer!
An officer of such stature, when is on his way to  perform his duties, was brutally murdered in broad daylight! And, it is a shame that such an incident should occur just a day before when we are all set to celebrate the biggest day of our democracy – our 61st  Republic Day!
Indranil Khan at World of 22.com wrote the following:
Yashwant Sonawane has conducted raids in the petroleum black market flourishing in Maharashtra and had to pay for his honesty by sacrificing his life while raiding the oil depot. The incident has spread shockwaves across the nation. In a country where corruption is at large and the government struggling to cope with black marketeers, an act of honesty and dedication in work is met with a cold-blooded murder- a painful one.
Twitter was abuzz with shocked reactions:
@Saurabh_jo: Additional DC of Malegaon burnt alive while conducting a raid on black marketeers in Manmad. Shocking
@Ajithlodha: heart is bleeding for DC of malegaon. How could any soul be so ruthless that they could burn a human alive.
@AmbaniParody: Additional DC of Malegaon burnt alive by black markeeters, while conducting a raid. Moral: Honesty kills you in India
@rohitvvv: What an inhuman act, malegaon Additional DC burnt alive.
@RuchirKhare: Hope that culprits are caught and punished.
@neetakolhatkar: RIP Yashwant Sonawane addnl collector who had courage to take on kerosene mafia in Manmad, malegaon region. Salute
@sanjaysuri: What's our country come to, additional DC burnt alive in Malegaon. #shocked
@ranvirshorey: Hope the Malegaon goons are caught quickly and justice is exemplary.
@indiacor: If the corrupt can do this to a senior govt official, think of what they will do to you, WAKE UP INDIA!!!!
The irony that the inhuman incident had occurred just a day before the Republic Day celebrations was not lost on some of the netizens who expressed their feelings through tweets such as these:
@venkatananth: What shame on R-Day Eve!
@anubhabhonsle: How are we going to hoist the national flag in manmad, malegaon where yashwant sonawane is burnt alive ? #shame
Some also remembered others like Shanmughan Manjunath and Satyendra Dubey who had also lost their lives trying to fight corruption.
@kshitijb: Yashwant Sonawane faces the same destiny as Satyendra Dubey. Tragic.
@ananyadg: horrifying-another manjunath. additional district collector, malegaon burnt alive. yashwant sonavne went to raid black marketing of petrol.
@m2shooter: India didn't forget manjunath murder by oil mafia, now ADC malegaon burnt alive by kerosene mafia. Honest India facing threats of crime gangs
The police have been quick to pursue the case and though a couple of people have been detained, the police say it is too early to blame the fuel mafia for the incident. Government officers in Maharashtra have called for a day-long strike on January 27th to protest their colleague's gruesome murder.