Jabalpur, Mar 6 (UNI) A suspected AIDS patient, who doused a medical counsellor with kerosene and set him ablaze at the local Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Medical College Hospital over a trivial issue this afternoon, was arrested this evening.

''Kaushal Kishore Jaiswal, a resident of Sidhi district's Sarra village--who was undergoing counselling at the hospital for about a year-- suspected that he was suffering from AIDS and set on fire Sanjay Shrivastav during a counselling session this afternoon.

Though Jaiswal managed to flee after the incident, he was apprehended by police in the evening while he was hiding on a hill near the college,' Additional Superintendent of Police Manohar Verma told UNI.

During interrogation, Jaiswal said he arrived at the hospital on February 24. The counsellor repeatedly told him that he was not AIDS-affected and refused to supply medicine.

''I felt that the doctors wanted to kill me through lack of treatment,'' he added.

Mr Verma said the accused seemed to have lost his mental balance. The counsellor suffered about 80 per cent burns and is undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Eds: Pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI