2 held for suicide of engineer in Ch'nagar

The Town police on Wednesday arrested two persons in connection with the suicide of a junior engineer working under Mahathma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The arrested have been identified as Sardar and D Vyramanickyam, the member and Panchayat Development Officer of Kurattihosur gram panchayat in Kollegal taluk, respectively. The two were nabbed at Valangur in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

Suresh, a junior engineer working under MGNREGS as an outsourced employee, was allegedly being pressured by Sardar, his wife Sarojamma and Vyramanickyam, for putting his (Suresh’s) signature on the measurement book pertaining to a Rs 25-lakh project executed under the job scheme.

It is said that Suresh had drawn the attention of the Zilla Panchayat to several irregularities in the project, and had requested the former to depute him to some other place. However, no such action was taken.

Suresh committed suicide by setting himself ablaze on June 23. His father had lodged a complaint blaming the three for the death of his son. Sardar and Vyaramanickyam had absconded following the incident.

The Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer has suspended Vyramanickyam and has written to the government seeking cancellation of the GP membership of Sardar.

Sarojamma, an anganwadi worker is still at large. She has been dismissed from service. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister H K Patil on Wednesday said that the State government will take appropriate action against all those responsible for the death of Suresh.

Replying to a question by Govinda Karjol (BJP) in the Legislative Assembly, the minister said that the government has sought a report from Chamarajnagar deputy commissioner on the issue. Action will be taken based on the report.