JOIN US Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee has written to Mysuru Deputy Commissioner C Shikha to look into a complaint that Mysuru Assistant Commissioner Ayesha Banu rejected a compensation application made by the widow of a farmer who had committed suicide.
Mukherjee wrote to Shikha on Thursday, demanding an explanation following a complaint by Sachin Meega, president of the KPCC’s Kisan-Khet Mazdoor Cell. Meega contended that Banu had rejected the application by Mahadevamma, wife of Mahadeva Naik, said to be a farmer who committed suicide in Nanjangud on July 8. He demanded the officer’s suspension.
Mahadevamma had approached Banu, stating that her husband had committed suicide as a moneylender was harassing him to repay a loan. Naik had borrowed Rs 35,000 from the moneylender but the loan shot up to Rs three lakh given the high interest.
The assistant commissioner, however, verified the applicant’s claims from the police and the local residents and it emerged that Naik was not a farmer but a tender coconut vendor who had ended his life due to personal reasons.
She then rejected the compensation application.