Forced to exchange demonetised notes, man kills self

A former sugar mill manager allegedly shot himself after being pressured by a retired IAS officer to get demonetised currency notes worth Rs 10 crore exchanged in a village in Shamli district, police said on Friday.

The incident occurred in Badhev village under the Adarsh Mandi police station area last evening, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shalok Kumar said.

The victim, Vijay Singh (51), left a suicide note accusing brother-in-law and retired IAS officer Vinod Kumar Pawar of putting pressure on him to get the demonetised notes exchanged, he said.

According to the suicide note, the victim had helped the accused exchange demonetised notes worth Rs 50 lakh earlier, the ASP said, adding that he also alleged that Pawar had forcibly captured a piece of land belonging to Singh's mother.

The pistol used in the suicide was seized and the note sent to handwriting experts for verification, the ASP said.

A case was registered under various sections of the law and an investigation was underway, he added.

Pawar, a resident of Ghaziabad, was earlier posted as an additional district magistrate in Muzaffarnagar and as a district magistrate in Bijnore.