‘Harassed’ by cop, youth commits suicide in Mumbai

A 26-year-old youth committed suicide on Tuesday morning by jumping in front of a local in Virar. In his suicide note written in Marathi, the deceased, Nikesh Bhandari, has charged harassment by an inspector attached with the Charkop police.  Bhandari, who along with his parents stayed at Charkop, Kandivli (W), went to his sister’s house in Virar on Monday night, when he wrote the note.

The problem evidently began on Holi this year, when Bhandari and his brother Chaitanya were beaten up by a group of 10 people with wooden bats, stumps and iron rods, allegedly for occupying a couple of seats on a stage built for the occasion. “Bhandari, whose injuries were worse had to be admitted to the ICU in Bhagwati Hospital,” said a relative.

Bhandari’s sister in-law Archana said the police was pressuring my husband and brother in-law to not file a plaint as a member of a political party, Sachin Ghag, was part of the group. When Bhandari went to lodge a complaint against Ghag, the police refused, saying that Ghag was with inspector Pravin Patil. In the two-page suicide note, Bhandari has named both Ghag and Patil.

On Wednesday, around 40 to 50 people, including friends and kin of the deceased, gathered outside the police station, demanding action against PI Patil and the group that thrashed the victim. Charkop police recorded the statement of the victim’s father Nandkumar, who has charged Patil with harassment.

DCP Mahesh Patil said the GRP, which registered an accidental death case for Nikesh, will probe the case. We have taken the statement of the victim’s father and will send them to the GRP.”