Businessman named in dam scams shoots self

A 41-year-old businessman, one of the accused in the Gosikhurd dam irrigation scam, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in his own car at the Marine Drive on Tuesday evening. The police suspect the reason behind the drastic move was business losses. The deceased has been identified as Jigar Thakkar, director of D Thakkar Construction Pvt Ltd.

The incident took place around 6:30 pm on Tuesday near NCPA. Thakkar was driven to the spot, from his home in Ghatkopar, by his driver Sunil Singh. Thakkar then asked Singh to leave the car, immediately shot himself in the head with a licensed revolver that he was carrying.

Singh rushed to the car and saw Thakkar lying in a pool of blood. He drove him first to Bombay Hospital and then to GT hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. Postmortem was conducted at GT hospital and the revolver has been seized for a ballistic test.

"He was shot on his right side of the head," said a senior police officer. "We have not found a suicide note yet, but the probe is on. We are recording the statement of his driver and will scrutinise the phone to find out the reason behind the suicide."

D Thakkar Construction Pvt Ltd is under the scanner for its role in bagging the Rs 56-crore tender for the tail canal of the Mokhabardi lift irrigation scheme in the Gosikhurd project. The Anti Corruption Bureau has also chargesheeted Thakkar, his brother, and his father in the case.