The family of the 52-year-old branch manager of an insurance company, whose body was found hanging from a tree in south-west Delhi’s Dwarka on July 21, has alleged that he had been falsely accused of sexual assault twice and was often belittled by his junior colleagues for belonging to a Scheduled Caste.
In his nine-page hand-written suicide note, Vijay Pal Singh, a resident of Dwarka Sector 19 and working in Panipat, had stated that he was killing himself because he was “framed” by three of his colleagues.
‘Was proven innocent’
A woman working as his assistant had allegedly complained to her seniors that he had molested her.
The family told The Hindu that this was the second time that such an allegation had been levelled against him, and that he had been proven innocent when similar charges were levelled against him by another woman in 2010.
“In 2010, when he was working with the Malviya Nagar branch, a woman had complained to her seniors that he had misbehaved with her. Thankfully, when a four-member panel was set up to verify the facts, it turned out that the woman was lying to extort money,” said Suresh Singh (48), Mr. Singh’s brother, who used to work with him in the branch in 2010.
The woman was then demoted and transferred, he added.
‘Had requested transfer’
Mr Singh’s 20-year-old son Aakeshwar Singh, who recently gave his Class XII board exams, said that his father was often belittled by his juniors as he belonged to a Scheduled Caste.
“He told me a few times that his juniors would ask him about how he could ‘possibly be their boss’ and that he ‘didn’t deserve to be in the seat’,” he said.
In his suicide note, Mr. Singh wrote: “I have complained of discrimination to the office in Ambala (where the firm’s Human Resource department is located) and to our SC/ST association, and had requested transfer from this office because of the difficulties I have been facing here”.
According to the note and the family, a meeting was held on July 20 around 10.30 p.m. between the three people mentioned in the note, Mr. Singh and another colleague. The charges against Mr. Singh were discussed.
‘Apologised for conduct’
In the suicide note, Mr. Singh said that during the meeting he admitted to using vulgar language while talking to the girl. He went on to write that he then apologised for his conduct.
“I stayed quiet through the meeting because one of the three was ready to hit me. I told them I had used vulgar language for which I apologised but I never used physical force on the girl,” Mr. Singh wrote, adding that he was “being framed”.
Talking about Mr Singh’s behaviour in the office, an assistant with the firm, Rahul, said that the deceased could not have touched a woman inappropriately. “He used to tell me to maintain distance from women because he was wrongly implicated earlier,” he said.
Mr. Singh’s neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “He never looked at women in the locality. We can’t believe he could have done something wrong. He was a good man with no bad habits,” she said.
Recalling the night of July 21, Mr. Singh’s 16-year-old son Aman said that they had tried reaching him around 4 p.m. the day before but his phone was switched off. It was around 1 a.m. on Friday that they received WhatsApp images of the suicide note and the phone was switched off again.
Mr. Singh used to travel home to Delhi every weekend and stayed with his sister in Panipat on weekdays.
“I called up my aunt and we all left for Panipat. On reaching his office, we got to know that he had left around 11.30 a.m. on July 20. He didn’t even go to my aunt’s house,” Aman said.
‘Want CBI probe’
Mr. Singh’s family said that he decided to commit suicide in in Delhi as he didn’t want the case to be investigated by the Haryana Police.
Requesting the case to be investigated by the CBI, Mr. Singh had wrote in his note that those responsible for his death “have connections in the State Police”.
Meanwhile, the police have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“One of the men has been questioned, who disclosed that the deceased had molestation charges levelled against him. The others will also be questioned,” said a senior police officer.