Two of family commit suicide after officials auction their land

Two members of a family committed suicide after revenue department officials wrongly auctioned eight bighas of their agricultural land for non-payment of a loan. Kamlesh Singh, son of Sharda Singh, and his cousin brother Suneel committed suicide in the first week of December in Kaimi Bhood village, Lakhimpur district. Sharda Singh had taken loan of Rs 43,000 in 2002 from a nationalised bank for starting a dairy business. He returned Rs 19,800 in March and Rs 10,000 in July 2007. Singh promised the bank he would pay the balance in six months. But on October 23, his land was auctioned without any notice. Reportedly, revenue department officials did not even visit the village, which is mandatory for the auction. The village head Rakesh Singh said no auction actually took place but the land was shown as auctioned to Jagdish Singh, a farmer. Witnesses, whose signatures are shown on auction papers, deny that they were present.