‘Harassed’ by senior,man commits suicide

Upset over the alleged harassment by an Executing Officer (EO) of a nagar panchayat,a Class IV contract employee has committed suicide by immolating himself in Ajitmal police station area of Auraiya district.

A case of abetment to suicide was registered against the EO,Parshuram Shankhwar,who is absconding. The Auraiya Superintendent of Police (SP),Abdul Hamid,said Rajesh Kumar (32),a resident of Patel Nagar and employed with the Babarpur-Ajitmal nagar panchayat,immolated himself at his home on Wednesday evening. He sustained over 80 per cent burns and was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute at Saifai in Etawah,where he died in the wee hours of Thursday. Santosh Kumar,the uncle of Rajesh,lodged a complaint alleging that his nephew had been fed up with the harassment by Shankhwar over the last few months.

Rajesh,he said,had told him that Shankhwar used to engage him in household work at his house everyday. The EO also used to threaten to dismiss Rajesh from the job if he ever refused to follow his orders,Santosh alleged.

The Senior Sub-Inspector (SS-I) of the Ajitmal police station,Rahamuddin Khan,who is officiating as the SHO,said the dying declaration of Rajesh could not be recorded. He said he had requested the Saifai station officer to get it recorded,but it was not done.