CHENNAI: A 24-year-old jewellery shop owner in Pali, Rajasthan, died by suicide on Wednesday, triggering a protest by his family alleging that harassment by Chennai police personnel and a jeweller from Chennai drove him to take the extreme step.
While Chennai police denied involvement of any police personnel from the city in the incident, sources told DT Next that investigators in Rajasthan are now examining the possible role of a police inspector from the city, whose name surfaced during preliminary inquiries.
The deceased, identified as Vinod Kumar alias Vardaram Gurjar (24), along with his brother Budharam (22), consumed poison allegedly after facing repeated threats and extortion demands linked to a theft case registered in Chennai. The family claimed that a person named Mahavir, said to be a jeweller based in Chennai, and two constables had been putting pressure on the brothers to confess to a theft, threatening physical assault and attachment of their ancestral land in Pali.
Senior police sources confirmed to this newspaper that the two constables from Elephant Gate police station were in Rajasthan in connection with the case but had returned before the suicide took place.
"It looks like the jeweller from Chennai had been using the name of the police to threaten the victims with severe actions," said a senior police officer here.
"We are looking into all aspects, including whether any supervisory officer from Chennai had knowledge of or involvement in the alleged harassment," an officer in Pali told reporters there.
Vardaram was declared dead at AIIMS-Jodhpur, while Budharam remains under medical care. Following the death, family members and local community groups staged a protest outside the mortuary of the hospital and entered into heated arguments with police in Bagri Nagar, demanding registration of an FIR and immediate arrest of the accused.
Pali, a dark spot for Chennai police
This district in Rajasthan is not new to the city police. It was there that a police inspector from Chennai died of bullet injuries in accidental firing by his colleague in a botched operation on the night of December 12, 2017.
A team of officials from here, including S Periyapandian, the then inspector of Maduravoyal, and Munisekhar, who was then the Kolathur inspector, and three constables went to Pali to hunt for the infamous thief Nathuram and his associates in connection with 3.5 kg gold heist reported at a jewellery shop in Kolathur on November 16, 2017.
During the midnight operation at Rampurkalan village in Pali, they entered a limestone quarry-cum-factory premises belonging to one Tejaram to nab the suspects. When a gang attacked the police team, Munisekhar tried to repel the attack by opening fire, but one of the bullets hit Periyapandian and killed him.