Yet another government official committed suicide in Buxar district in Bihar on Sunday. Tauqir Akram, who was OSD to the District Magistrate and also the deputy collector looking after the land acquisition office in the Central Bihar district bordering Uttar Pradesh, hanged himself in his rented house in Buxar where he lived with his parents and wife.
Less than three months back Buxar DM Mukesh Pandey too had committed suicide. His body had been recovered from the railway track near Ghaziabad on August 10. Pandey had taken this extreme step allegedly due to matrimonial problems.
Akram, who had worked under Pandey and now was serving under current DM Arvind Verma, left behind a suicide note but has not held anybody responsible for his act, police said. But sources said he was under tremendous work pressure and was also not getting his full salary for about nine months. Akram originally belonged to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and was serving In Buxar since 2015 in his capacity as Bihar Administrative Service officer.
He reportedly committed suicide within hours after returning from Patna on Saturday late evening where he went for some official meeting. His wife had gone to her parents a week back.
His mother Nargis said, “Akram was under mental pressure since he was looking after several departments. I once told him that she will speak to the DM on this matter but he asked me not to do so. He was also not getting his salary and family was surviving on her pension.” She said he had taken `2,000 from her for going to Patna a day earlier.
DM Verma said due to some old case the government as a punishment had allowed him to avail only half of his salary and he was depositing half of his salary in exchequer. The case was related to some farmer whose land had been acquired but he had not been compensated accordingly.
The DM said he was not aware about work pressure neither Akram ever told him about it. “No official reason seems to be behind this suicide,” he claimed.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed shock over this incident and directed Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and principal secretary home Amir Subhani to inquire into the case and find out reasons leading to the suicide.
Unofficial sources said that a few days back Akram had been humiliated by a public representative for some work. But the sources did not identify who the public representative was.
Union Minister of state for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who represents Buxar constituency, expressed shock and visited the bereaved family. He was supposed to attend an official function in Buxar with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh but the programme was cancelled following the tragedy.