A 29-year-old contract labourer hired by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has committed suicide allegedly due to police harassment in connection with a major theft case.
Personnel of the Government Railway police, who found the body lying near the tracks between Uppuguda and Falaknuma railway stations, on Sunday shifted it to a hospital for postmortem.
The deceased has been identified as Shaik Mehboob Basha, a resident of Edi Bazar in Kumarwadi area of Chandrayangutta.
Two persons, Mehboob and Amir, had been arrested in connection with a major theft that took place in Bajara Hills a few days ago. During questioning they revealed the involvement of a notorious thief, Mohammed Ghouse, who is a close relative of Basha.
Bash’s wife Kasima Bee said her husband had made a call to her from a public telephone telling her that he would commit suicide due to police harassment. The family members came to know that Basha had made the call from a coin box near the Uppuguda railway station and made a futile search for him.
The Mahankali police visited Basha’s house and informed the family that the Government Railway Police found Basha’s body near the railway tracks between Uppuguda-Falaknuma stations.
Kasima Bee alleged that her husband had been driven to suicide by police harassment in connection with a theft case in which their relative Ghouse was involved. The police, however, denied any harassment by them.