Indian official torched investigating 'fuel thieves'

A government official has been burnt to death in the western Indian state of Maharashtra while investigating a suspected fuel racket, police say.

Police say the revenue officer had stopped to check out a suspicious tanker on the Nashik-Manmad highway, about 200km (124 miles) from Mumbai.

He was burned to death and his driver was beaten up. One of the attackers was seriously injured in the incident.

Police said it was too early to blame the so-called fuel mafia.

"The people around [the tanker] became furious and first burnt the vehicle and then burnt him alive," said a government spokesman in Nashik district.