PATNA - An unemployed man tried to set himself on fire Friday during Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s meeting with people to protest alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers for government-run schools in the state, officials said here.

Dhanraj Kumar, in his late 20s, attempted self-immolation at Ariari in Sheikhpura district.

Dhanraj sustained minor burns as his attempt was foiled by the security officials present, officials said.

Dhanraj, a resident of Nawada district, told the police that a district official demanded a bribe of Rs.50,000 from him though he was already selected for the teacher’s job as per normal process.

The state government has rejected more than five million applications to check a fake degree racket and other irregularities in the teacher recruitment drive for government-run schools.

About 9,000 recruitment centres across the state received more than 10 million applications for 93,000 teaching posts in the second phase.

Last month, the state government blacklisted 75 B.Ed institutions in India and Nepal to check the racket.

In the last week of December, the government sacked 15,000 teachers for submitting fake degrees and certificates. The sacked teachers were appointed last year as part of the first phase of the recruitment drive.