Man chops off own fingers to avoid working as computer operator at kin's firm in Gujarat

Surat: In a bizarre incident, a man chopped off four fingers of his left hand with a sharp knife to make himself unfit for his job as a computer operator at his kin's diamond firm, police in Gujarat's Surat city said on Saturday.

Mayur Tarapara (32) had earlier told police a story about finding his fingers missing after falling unconscious by the side of a road, though a probe into the chain of events revealed that the harm was self-inflicted, the officials added.

In a statement, Surat Crime Branch said Tarapara took this step as he did not have courage to tell his kin that he no longer wanted work at his firm Anabh Gems, located in Varachha Mini Bazaar.

The victim works as a computer operator in the accounts department at this firm and loss of fingers would have made him unfit for the job, the statement pointed out.

Earlier, Tarapara had told police that he was on his way to a friend's house on December 8 on a motorcycle when he felt dizzy and passed out by the ring road near Vedanta Circle in Amroli.

When he regained consciousness after 10 minutes, four fingers of his left hand had been chopped off, Tarapara had told police.

It was suspected at the time that the fingers may have been cut and taken away for black magic purposes, as per police.

A case was registered at Amroli police station and the probe was transferred to the city's Crime Branch, which found Tarapara's involvement after going through CCTV footage and deploying technical surveillance as well as human intel.

"Tarapara confessed that he bought a sharp knife from a shop near Char Rasta in Singanpore. Four days later, on Sunday night, he went to Amroli Ring Road and parked his motorcycle there. At around 10pm, he cut off four fingers with a knife and tied a rope near the elbow to prevent blood flow. He then put the knife and fingers in a bag and threw it away," the official said.

His friends took him to hospital, the official said, adding three fingers have been recovered from a bag, while the knife was found in another bag.

Amroli police is carrying out further probe, the official informed.