Mumbai Police register FIR in case of Lok Sabha MP Mohan Delkar's death

MUMBAI: Mumbai Police has registered an FIR for alleged abetment to suicide against Praful Kheda Patel, administrator of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, in connection with the death of Lok Sabha member Mohan Delkar, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Delkar (58), a seven-term MP from the Union Territory, was found dead in a hotel in Marine Drive area of south Mumbai on February 22.

His son Abhinav alleged in his complaint that the accused "tortured and humiliated" his father because he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe, and also because they wanted to stop him from contesting elections and to control a college run by him.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday after Delkar's family members visited the Marine Drive police station.

The case was registered under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and also under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

It named administrator Praful Patel, the local district magistrate and the Superintendent of Police and others as accused.

The police had recovered a 15-page suicide note from Delkar's hotel room which was written on his letter head, the official said, adding the note mentioned some names.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday announced that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will probe the alleged suicide of Delkar.

Deshmukh said in the state Assembly that Delkar's suicide note stated that the Union Territory's administrator Praful Kheda Patel was harassing the MP.

Delkar's wife and son met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the Vidhan Bhavan here on Tuesday.

Later, talking to reporters, his son Abhinav Delkar claimed Patel "left no stone unturned to humiliate" the deceased.

In his complaint, Abhinav told Mumbai police that the accused hatched a conspiracy to stop his father from contesting elections and to get control over his college.

The accused also demanded Rs 25 crore by threatening to implicate his father in a false criminal case, Abhinav alleged.

His father had complained to various authorities about the harassment, he said.

"If my father had committed suicide at Silvasa, there were chances that investigation in the case would not have been proper. So he deliberately chose Mumbai to end his life," Abhinav mentioned in the statement.