India, Nov. 27 -- The five men who allegedly set Kurla resident Abul Rehman Maqsood Alam Khan ablaze while celebrating his birthday late at night on Monday envied him for his complexion and used to bully him often, he told Hindustan Times.

"They always bullied me as I was fairer than them. On my last birthday too, they had called me for a celebration, but I was saved as I had gone out with my college friends," said Khan, who received 35% burns and is under treatment at City Hospital in Vinoba Bhave Nagar.

The accused had likely planned a stunt similar to the one in which he sustained burns, he apprehended.

The son of a scrap dealer and a third-year student at Khalsa College in Matunga, Khan lives in Kohinoor Phase 3 at Kirol Road in Ku...