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Oil firm staff booked for abetting suicide of Mohali-based fuel pump owner
The victim named the officials of the private oil company in his suicide note.
The Panchkula Police on Thursday registered an FIR against some officers of a private oil company after a Mohali-based petrol pump owner ended his life and named them in his suicide note.
The 76-year-old took his life on Wednesday night at a hotel in Sector 1 of Panchkula.
“In an 8-9 page suicide note, the elderly man has accused some officers of an oil company of harassment and stated that because of the difference in fuel rates of Chandigarh and Mohali, his business was badly impacted,” said the investigating officer Lalit Kumar.
He said a case has been filed under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) against the oil firm officials and the investigation is on.
As per information, the petrol pump owner had been highlighting the rate difference issue for a long time and had in September 2019 even sought permission from the Punjab government and UT administrator to commit suicide. He had said that due to difference in fuel rates, 80% of the business had been lost and worst sufferers were the pumps located on the Chandigarh-Punjab border.
Reacting to the incident, Punjab Petrol Pump Dealers Association president Paramjit Singh Doaba said, “A senior member of the petroleum fraternity has ended his life and the onus lies with the Punjab government and oil marketing companies and Union PNG ministry, who failed to work towards price correction or take steps to cover up the losses faced by dealers due to Covid-19.”
“If corrective measures are not taken by the government, dealers will be left with no other option than taking their own lives,” Doaba added.
