Malappuram , A 35-year-old autorickshaw driver allegedly died by suicide here after posting on Facebook that the MVD had denied a fitness certificate for his vehicle, police said on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Shoukat, 35, of Kizhisseri, who had been working as an autorickshaw driver for the past four years.
According to police, Shoukat alleged in the Facebook post that the Motor Vehicles Department had destroyed his livelihood by withholding the fitness certificate for his autorickshaw because he approached the authorities directly without the assistance of agents.
After seeing the post, his friends alerted the police and reached his house, where he was found hanging, police said.
In the post, Shoukat alleged that he had been visiting MVD offices for the past 10 months regarding his vehicle and claimed that the denial of the fitness certificate had left him in severe financial distress.
He alleged that his EMIs had fallen overdue and that his credit score had dropped from 820 to 600.
Shoukat alleged that the MVD might claim during an investigation that his vehicle was unfit because of steel work carried out on it.
{{/usCountry}}Shoukat alleged that the MVD might claim during an investigation that his vehicle was unfit because of steel work carried out on it.
{{/usCountry}}He claimed that MVD officials had twice earlier certified that the steel work carried out on his vehicle was not illegal.
He urged the state Home minister and the Kerala High Court to intervene and sought a detailed investigation into his allegations against MVD officials.
He alleged that the agent system was a major cause of corruption in the MVD and called for its abolition.
In the Facebook post, Shoukat urged people to use the Right to Information Act to seek information from government departments and fight corruption.
Police have registered a case of unnatural death and started an investigation.
Transport Minister C P John has sought a report on the allegations raised by Shoukat against the Kondotty Sub Regional Transport Office.
The Malappuram District RTO will conduct an inquiry and submit a report to the minister, officials said.
The body will be handed over to the family after postmortem, police added.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.