NAGPUR: Days after social activist Arvind Bansod allegedly committed suicide here in Maharashtra, police have slapped abetment charges against an LPG agency owner and two others, an official said on Monday.
The police action came after a row erupted over the issue with local Dalit leaders demanding a thorough probe into the matter. The police last week filed a case against LPG agency owner Mithilesh alias Mayur Bandopant Umarkar and his two friends under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide), the official said.
He said that 32-year-old Bansod, a local social activist and Dalit, was a resident of Pimpaldhara village under Narkhed tehsil of Nagpur district. On May 27, Bansod and his friend Gajanan Raut, travelling on a motorcycle, stopped near the gas agency and started clicking pictures of the outlet, he said.
He said that Umarkar and his two friends objected to the duo taking pictures and they allegedly slapped and abused Bansod. Bansod asked Raut to go and get petrol filled in the motorbike. In the meantime, the social activist went to a nearby shop from where he purchased pesticides and consumed it, the official said.
When Raut returned to the spot, he found Bansod lying on the ground. Bansod was later admitted to a hospital where he died on May 29, he said.
The officer said that based on a complaint by the deceased's brother, the police filed the abetment of suicide case against the trio. No arrest has been made so far, he said, adding Umarkar has obtained anticipatory bail from the local court.
Nagpur (Rural) SP Rakesh Ola said that statements of the victim's relatives and owner of the shop from where Bansod had purchased pesticides have been recorded. "We are investigating the case from all angles," he said.