Congress demands CBI inquiry, suspension of SSP over Uttarakhand farmer's suicide

Dehradun, Jan 16 (PTI) The Congress party in Uttarakhand on Friday marched towards the state police headquarters and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged suicide of farmer in Haldwani last week.

The party also demanded the suspension of Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), registration of a case against him and arrest of all the accused.

The farmer Sukhwant Singh, who allegedly committed suicide on January 11, after being duped of Rs 4 crore in a land fraud, had accused Udham Singh Nagar SSP and other police officers of inaction in a video recorded by him before taking the extreme step.

Led by State Congress President Ganesh Godiyal and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Yashpal Arya, party workers marched in a procession towards the state police headquarters.

Upon reaching the headquarters, the Congress submitted a memorandum of their demands to Director General of Police Deepam Seth.

According to the memorandum, the deceased farmer was allegedly forced to commit suicide due to the protection provided by the police to the land mafia, who had reportedly defrauded him, and due to the continuous harassment he faced after filing a complaint.

This incident is extremely serious and is creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among the residents and farmers of the region, the memorandum said.

The Congress also alleged in the memorandum that despite the deceased farmer naming SSP Manikant Mishra in a video posted on social media before his death, he has not been removed from his post, and the matter has been brushed aside by merely constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the investigation.

Questioning the impartiality of the police investigation, the Congress, in its memorandum, demanded the immediate suspension of the district SSP, registration of a case against him, immediate arrest of all the accused in the case, and handing over the investigation to the CBI.

Besides Godiyal and Arya, former chief minister Harish Rawat, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Bhuvan Kapri, MLAs Tilakraj Behad, Adesh Chauhan, Mamta Rakesh, Ravi Bahadur, Virendra Jati, and many other senior party leaders were present at the event.

Sukhwant Singh, 40, a resident of Paiga village in Kashipur, allegedly committed suicide on January 11 by shooting himself in a hotel room in Haldwani, Nainital district.

Before committing suicide, Singh posted a video on social media alleging that he had been cheated out of approximately Rs 4 crore in a land deal, and that the police had not taken any action on his complaint, which led him to take this extreme step.

The farmer had named the people who allegedly defrauded him through the deal.

In the video, Singh also claimed that he had complained to the Senior Superintendent of Police of Udham Singh Nagar and other police officers in this regard, but no action was taken. PTI DPT HIG SHS SHS