MP bizman-wife suicide: Rahul Gandhi talks to couple's children

Bhopal: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Saturday spoke with the children of the couple that died by suicide in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district accusing the Enforcement Directorate and BJP leaders of harassment.

State Congress chief Jitu Patwari reached Ashta town on Saturday afternoon to meet the children of Manoj Parmar and his wife Neha who hanged themselves on Friday leaving behind a purported suicide note.

In the note that surfaced on social media, Parmar urged Gandhi and other Congress leaders not to leave his children alone and accused the ED and BJP leaders of harassment.

Patwari connected Gandhi with the Parmar couple’s children – two sons and a daughter – over the phone.

During the call, the couple’s elder son told Gandhi that his father chose to take his life instead of succumbing to ED’s pressure to “get them (the children) to join the BJP”. Congress leaders have claimed that Parmar’s children had given their piggy bank to Gandhi during his foot march ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’.

During the conversation with Gandhi, the couple’s daughter expressed hope that the senior Congress leader would visit them in Ashta town. Gandhi consoled the children.

Patwari briefed Gandhi about the situation and the content of the suicide note. He said the couple expressed their wish in the note that Gandhi and Congress leaders should take care of their school-going children.

Patwari told Gandhi that if he was caught up and could not find time to visit Ashta, he would bring the kids to Delhi.

Speaking to reporters later, Patwari claimed that ED was pressuring Parmar to ensure that his children “joined the BJP as they had participated in Gandhi’s Yatra”.

ED’s Bhopal zonal official had carried out searches on December 5 at four premises in Sehore and Indore districts in connection with the matter of Parmar and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The search covered the residential premises of the key persons who were the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime or had actively aided or abetted such persons in a bank fraud case, the ED has said in a statement, claiming to have recovered incriminating documents.

As per the ED's statement, the agency launched an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Parmar and a senior branch manager of PNB.

The ED has alleged that loans worth nearly Rs 6 crore were availed under the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme and Chief Minister Yuva Udyami Yojana. However, the funds were diverted to proprietorship concerns or firms and were subsequently withdrawn in cash for investment in properties.

The ED investigation is underway, said the statement.