Two weeks after suspension, UP official kills self

Two weeks after being suspended over the multi-crore scam in distribution of foodgrains in Lakhimpur Kheri district, an assistant accountant...

Two weeks after being suspended over the multi-crore scam in distribution of foodgrains in Lakhimpur Kheri district, an assistant accountant in the UP Food and Civil Supplies department has committed suicide in Rae Bareilly. The scam, believed to be the biggest foodgrain bungling under the Annapurna PDS scheme in the state, saw more than 50 top officials including the Lakhimpur Kheri DM suspended by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav last month.

Durga Kumar Shukla, in a suicide note on November 5, blamed senior officials of the department and politicians for making him a scapegoat in the scam. Investigations show that Rs 9.5 crore-worth foodgrains each year meant for BPL families in Lakhimpur Kheri since 1996 did not reach them. Shukla, in his suicide note, alleges that top politicians of the district in connivance with administrative officials siphoned off the foodgrains to contractors.

On October 25, the CM suspended the Lakhimpur Kheri DM, SPS Solanki, all six sub-divisional magistrates and 19 other administrative officials for their involvement in the scam. All 25-odd officials of the district office of the Food and Civil supplies department, including Shukla, were also suspended and the office closed down.

8216;8216;I am an honest official who has never got an adverse entry in my 24 years of service,8217;8217; he wrote in his suicide note addressed to SP Food Cell Jasvir Singh who is probing the case. 8216;8216;My seniors portrayed a wrong picture of my integrity in front of the CM. Now, I cannot bear the humiliation and am not able to face my relatives and family with this stain. I already told my seniors while leaving Lakhimpur on November 4 that I will end my life. Now, I am doing so. Please get the handwriting tested as to be mine and thoroughly probe the matter to bring the powerful guilty to book.8217;8217;

In another note addressed to his family, he has asked his wife to take care of their three children and withdraw funds from the joint bank accounts.

Shukla8217;s wife Sudha told The Indian Express that he looked disturbed when he returned home in Lucknow8217;s Rajajipuram on Friday. 8216;8216;He left around noon the same day, saying he had to visit the Food and Civil Supplies department headquarters in Lucknow. That was the last we saw of him. Yesterday, we heard that he had been found dead in Rae Bareilly,8217;8217; she said.

Police are now probing how Shukla reached the spot where he was found dead. The post-mortem report shows injuries on his face but the cause of death is not clear.