Rajkot industrialists booked after staffer dies by suicide

Haresh Herbha (44) allegedly hanged himself at his residence in Sitaram Society on Kothariya Road on Sunday morning. His wife Umiya and the couple’s three children were at her parents’ home in Halenda, a village 40 km away from Rajkot.

The police have recovered a purported suicide note from the pocket of the clothes Herbha was wearing. He has alleged that Suresh and Nitin, managing director and director of AIPL, respectively, drove him to suicide. “There is only one reason for my suicide and Suresh Santoki and Nitin Santoki, owners of Amul Industries and their partners are responsible it,” the note read.

Based on a complaint filed by Herbha’s brother Dipak, an FIR was registered at Bhaktinagar police station against the two industrialists and their partners late Sunday under sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) of the Indian Penal Code.

The FIR quotes Dipak as stating that Herbha had been working as a late operator at AIPL’s unit in Aji industrial estate for the last 25 years. However, the company stopped paying its workers due to disputes among those managing the company around a year ago, though Herbha continued to do his job.

The FIR quoted Dipak as saying: “For the last one year, owners of the factory would call workers for work but due to dispute among them (owners), they were not paying workers their salary and their share of PF and ESI. My brother and other workers were demanding their salary.

Therefore, with an ill will, the owners of the factory illegally transferred my brother Haresh and other workers to Amul Industries Private Limited’s branch in Ranipet in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, 2,000 km away from Rajkot, on April 18, 2023.”

Dipak added that a labour court in Rajkot had ruled in favour of his brother on June 23 this year, directing AIPL to pay Herbha his salary of three months within 30 days, but the company didn’t.

“Owners of this factory didn’t pay salary to any worker, pushing my elder brother in a very tight economic condition,” Dipak is quoted in the FIR, adding that Herbha and other workers approached the Rajkot labour court again, seeking that AIPL be directed to pay its employees their salary by auctioning the company’s assets.

“Here too, the court ruled in favour of Haresbhai and others on October 7, this year. Still, owners of Amul Industries didn’t pay salary to workers, including Haresh, and due to financial crunch, he used to remain tense,” the FIR quoted Dipak.