CHENGDU, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Police in southwest China's Sichuan Province have detained a monk and his nephew for their roles in inciting a series of self-immolations, local police said Sunday.
Lorang Konchok, a 40-year-old monk at the Kirti Monastery in Aba County, Sichuan, has goaded eight people to set themselves on fire, three of whom died, since 2009, said a police statement.
He acted on the instructions of the Dalai Lama and his followers, according to his confession and police investigation.
After a Kirti Monastery monk named Tapey self-immolated in February 2009, Lorang Konchok was contacted by some key figures with the media liaison team -- a "Tibet independence" organization of the Dalai Lama group, and he continuously sent the latter information about incidents of self-immolation.
At the requests of the media liaison team, Lorang Konchok took advantage of his position and influence in the monastery and often encouraged others to self-immolate, telling local monks and followers that self-immolation was not against Buddhist doctrines and those who did it were "heroes."
He also promised to spread their "deeds" abroad so they and their families would be acknowledged and honored, the police statement said.
Lorang Konchok recruited Lorang Tsering, his 31-year-old nephew, to help with his instigation.
According to police, when someone agreed to commit suicide by burning himself or herself, the two suspects would record his or her personal and family information, take pictures and promise to "pass the information on to India."
As soon as the self-immolation was done, they sent pictures, accounts of the incident and other information to their overseas contacts belonging to the "Tibet independence" organization via mobile phones.
The two men had persuaded several people to attempt self-immolation, who abandoned the idea after their families, local government officials and police officers intervened, the statement said.
Another two persons had been forced to flee their hometown to avoid Lorang Konchok, who continued to harass them and urge them to exercise self-immolation as soon as possible. They did not return home until Lorang Konchok and Lorang Tsering were apprehended by the police.
Police started their investigation after a series of self-immolations took place in Aba in August. They detained Lorang Konchok on Aug. 13 and Lorang Tsering on Aug. 15.
Police will step up their work and crack down on such criminal acts, as inciting and convincing innocent people to burn themselves to death are not in line with the law, the statement said.
In three separate cases in Tibet, three people have died in the past two days after they set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese occupation of Tibet. 

Yesterday, Pema Dorje, 23, and Kunchok Phelgye, 24, died after they set themselves on fire in front of monasteries in northeastern and eastern Tibet. Then today, Bhenchen Kyi, 17, died after she set herself on fire in the Tsekhog,  region.

The deaths are described as s, where a person or persons set themselves on fire as a form of protest, often resulting in death. The first Tibetan reported case happened in 2009 when a monk named '' set himself on fire in . He survived the incident. Since then, reportedly at least 95 people have attempted self-immolation, 28 of those in November of this year.

Authorities say the self-immolations may be incited and as a result, have arrested two men believed to be connected to the cases. Today, Chinese authorities announced the arrests of Lorang Konchok, 40, and his nephew Lorang Tsering, 31, who were arrested in August. Konchok is a  working at a monastery in . In a confession Konchol claims he was working on orders from the  and his followers. He also says he recruited Tsering to help instigate the incidents, telling potential individuals they would be "heroes" if they went through with the immolation. Authorities say the two men were attempting to persuade more people to go through with the immolations, but those people backed out after police, family members, and government officials intervened.

Lobsang Choedak, a spokesperson for the Tibetan government in exile in , denies the allegations against Konchok and Tsering saying, "We believe the suspects have been forced to make these confessions. We would welcome the Chinese government investigating whether we are instigating these immolations."