6 booked for abetting suicide of tea stall owner

Mumbai: Six persons were booked on Monday night for allegedly abetting the suicide of a tea stall owner in June

Mumbai: Six persons were booked on Monday night for allegedly abetting the suicide of a tea stall owner in June.

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The six accused have been identified as Raghuvendra Pujari, Piyush Shah and Urwil Shah, Maruf Inamadar, Sahdeb Karmakar, and Hemant Sawant.

According to the police, the accused had allegedly taken the signature of Tejas when he approached them for a loan by mortgaging his house but instead sold the house to a man who took a loan of ₹73 lakh upon it.

Thereafter, bank employees started coming to Teja’s house, and allegedly in frustration, he hanged himself in his house on June 11.

A case was then registered with the Dadar police station by Teja’s sister, Jyotsna Autavakar, 33, a resident of Prabhadevi, Dadar. The police earlier registered an Accidental Death Report to inquire into the allegations.

“She told us that she has two brothers, Tushar, 32, and Tejas, and they have a house in Sai Sundar Nagar, Prabhadevi, Dadar West. Tushar works as a driver while Tejas is a tea seller and sells it in various industrial estates around Dadar area,” said the police officer.

Tejas had taken a loan of around ₹7 lakh to treat his mother, Parina, who died of kidney ailments in 2021, added the officer. “To clear the loan, Tejas decided to mortgage the house they stay in for ₹25 lakh. He then meets agents Pujari, Piyush, and Urwil,” said the police officer.

Promising a loan of ₹25 lakh, they took Tejas to the registration office, asking him to sign various documents for the loan.

“The accused sold the house to Karmakar, who took a loan of ₹73 lakh on the house. Of the ₹73 lakh loan Inamadar and Karmakar took ₹36.5 lakh, and ₹25 lakh were taken by Pujari and Piyush,” said the police officer.

However, the accused stopped paying the Equated Monthly Installments (EMIs), after which the recovery agents started coming to Tejas’s house, who neither sold the house nor had the money. “There were arguments between the bank agents and Tejas,” said the police officer. “On June 10, Teja’s brother Tushar and his wife had gone for a picnic to Virar when some bank employees came to their house, and Tejas was present. On June 11, Tejas hanged himself in the same house,” said the police officer.

“We have registered a case after inquiring into the matter against six accused who under the pretext of giving him a mortgage loan, sold his house to their aide who took a housing loan and didn’t pay any EMIs. The bank staffers started to get in touch with the deceased, who was still in possession of the house to seal it,” said the police officer.

The accused have been booked under sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 34 (common intention), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 467 (forgery of valuable security will, etc.) of the IPC.