E-Paper
Sangli deaths: FIR against 25 persons for abetment to suicide
A case has been filed against people who either lent money to the deceased family or pressured them for recovery of dues
Hours after nine persons from a family were found dead, the Miraj police booked 25 persons under abetment to suicide charge and money lenders Act, officials said.
Late on Monday, the police detained 10 of the 25 persons booked.
According to Sangli SP Dixit Gedam, a case has been filed against people who either lent money to the deceased family without authorisation or pressurised them for recovery of dues.
“We have lodged an offence at Miraj police station under IPC 306 and Section 39 of money lenders act against 25 accused. They have been booked based on the revelations of the suicide note. The victims had taken money from people and the accused have been booked for abetment to suicide. We will probe to find out the total amount borrowed by the deceased,” said Gedam.
The deceased brothers found dead on Monday incurred huge debt and were reticent about their daily life, locals from Mhaisal and police officials probing the case said. In the note recovered by police, both brothers cited money was borrowed for “business purpose”.
The father-in-law of the deceased said that he was at Mhaisal village for six days in May for medical treatment when he saw that the deceased was under financial stress.
“Someone used to call my son-in-law and they used to talk about black magic. The man apparently had taken large sums from my son-in-law,” the father-in-law said.
According to the locals, the family members had allegedly borrowed money from different persons and institutions and were in search of some “precious objects”.
The deceased, according to the local villagers, were allegedly seeking an “alloy of copper and iridium” to sell at a high price, a village resident did not wish to be quoted, said.
At least one of the neighbours said that the family was struggling with financial problems.
Sandeep Mehtre, a local from Mhaisal said the deceased family was in search of “Gupt dhan” (hidden treasure) and had consulted astrologists.
“They had borrowed money and was under loan bondage possibly because of the money spent in exploring hidden money.”
Locals said that some groups of persons had approached the family over the search of stones and promised them assistance citing that finding those stones would fetch them huge money if sold abroad.
However, the police said these claims were not borne out by their investigations as yet. “As of now nothing related to treasure hunt has come to the fore,” Gedam said.
When the bodies of the family members were recovered, police found notices served in April and May by cooperative credit society about recovery of dues worth few lakhs.
The police said that they would question neighbours and relatives from whom the family had taken loan to find the purpose behind excessive borrowing. The deceased hailed from middle class families.
Special IG Manoj Lohiya said that while one of the deceased was in a difficult situation, the other earned well in his veterinary practice.
Another villager on the condition of anonymity said that one of the deceased invested in various funds/ chit funds. However, the Hindustan Times could not independently verify this information.
