Suicide abetment case: Accused, who assaulted and called Latur man 'Pakistani', still at large

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Police teams have been formed to apprehend the man who allegedly called a Latur resident "Pakistani" and assaulted him, an official said on Monday.

Amir Gafur Pathan (30), a resident of Latur city in central Maharashtra, allegedly hanged himself on the evening of May 4. His wife claimed that an unidentified person had accused him of being "Pakistani" and assaulted him a day before the incident.

Based on a complaint, the police have registered a case of abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.

"We are searching for the accused, and the police have sent teams to apprehend him," he said.

The deceased man's wife, Samrin Amir Pathan, who works as a deputy manager with a private bank in neighbouring Dharashiv, has stated in her complaint that he usually picked her up on a scooter when she returned by bus in the evening.

On May 3, when she got down in Latur city and called her husband, she overheard Pathan pleading with someone, asking the other person not to hit him.

Later, she found Pathan at Samvidhan Chowk with his shirt torn, she said in the complaint.

He told her that while he was waiting for her, an unknown person alighted a car, accused him of being from Kashmir and Pakistan, and assaulted him, the woman said.

The assailant claimed to be a journalist and threatened to make her husband's photos and videos viral on social media while labelling him as a Pakistani national, the woman further claimed.