MUMBAI: Osmanabad Police have booked Shiv Sena MP Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and 56 others on alleged charges of cheating and abetting suicide of a 59-year-old farmer who hanged himself in his village in April this year claiming that his land was being sold to private lenders, police said.
A case has been registered at Dhoki police station in Osmanabad in Marathwada region, over 400 kms from here.
"The FIR names Sena MP Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and 56 others, including Vasantdada Sahakari Bank chairman Vijay Dandnaik for allegedly abetting the suicide of Dilip Davle who hanged himself from a tree in Kasabe Tanavle village in Osmanabad district," a local police official said.
According to the official, police had found two suicide notes purportedly written by the farmer mentioning Nimbalkar and Dandnaik.
"In one note, the deceased farmer purportedly mentioned that 13 farmers had gone to meet Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to make him aware about how Terna Karkhana was selling out farmers' lands to private bankers, but they had failed to meet Thackeray," sources said.
The Terna factory had reportedly mortgaged the deceased farmer's land with the Vasantdada Sahakari Bank which later sold it out after he failed to repay loan, they said.
After Davle's death, NCP chief Sharad Pawar visited his residence.
No arrest is made so far, sources added.