4 booked after being named in real-estate investor’s suicide note

A real-estate investor's suicide in Mumbai leads to a case against four individuals linked to financial harassment, per his suicide note.

MUMBAI: A small-time real-estate investor who allegedly died by suicide by drinking a poisonous insecticide, left a suicide note that has led to a case being registered against four persons – a credit cooperative society manager, who had allegedly given him a loan; a fraudster who had promised him a loan but took money from him instead; a lender who pressured him for money; and his business partner who was harassing him.

4 booked after being named in real-estate investor’s suicide note

The Kalachowkie police said they had found the suicide note next to the builder’s body. He had consumed the poison in a hotel room in Parel. “We have registered a case on the complaint of the builder’s son, under sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita,” said the police.

The deceased, in his late fifties, was earlier working as a bus conductor. He had taken voluntary retirement in 2007 and believed he could make some money by investing in real-estate projects. It all started when the deceased and his business partner B S Solanki invested more than ₹30 lakh in a project in 2020. However, when the project didn’t take off, Solanki began asking the deceased to return his money. Solanki has been named in the suicide note.

The deceased had also taken a loan from a credit cooperative society. He invested the money in his business but was unable to repay the required instalments. The manager of the credit cooperative society, Vilas Jadhav, started pressuring him to recover his dues. He too has been named in the suicide note.

According to the police, Hemant Sawant was mentioned in the suicide note as someone who had posed as a bank manager and took ₹20.82 lakh as loan charges, fees and commission on loans sought by the deceased and 11 others who he had introduced to Sawant. When Sawant fled, the deceased was under pressure to return the money to the 11 others, including Ankush Kale, who is the fourth person named in the FIR.