A senior inspector at Virar police station has been booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 23-year-old man who set himself ablaze in the office of a senior police officer in November last year. Vinaykant Jha, the father of deceased Vikas Jha, gave a written application to the police on Monday after the police completed a probe into his son’s suicide. The police had initially booked Virar resident Munaf Baluch for driving Vikas to take his own life.
Vikas, who had several cases of extortion registered against him, was booked for molestation last year based on a complaint by Amar Jha and Mithilesh Jha. The police said Vikas had been vouching for his innocence. He claimed that the police were paying no heed to his requests to be let off in the case.
In November last year, he set himself on fire inside the office of Vishwas Walvi, Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Vasai. He died hours later after sustaining 80-90% burns. A detailed probe by Sachin Pendkar, SDPO Dahanu, concluded last week that Baluch, a local rival of Vikas in Virar had been harassing him and had driven him to commit suicide.
The police last week filed a case against Baluch. Vikas’s family had been insisting that Amar and Mithilesh Jha and Virar police senior inspector Yunus Shaikh also be made co-accused. However, the police probe found no wrongdoing on the part of Shaikh in booking Vikas for molestation.
Manjunath Singe, Superintendent of Palghar, said the police had explained to the family that there was no evidence to back their allegations against Shaikh. However, after the family’s allegations went unheeded, Vikas’s older brother Amit consumed rat poison on Saturday and passed away on Monday. After the death of his second son, Vinaykant Jha submitted a written complaint to the police repeating his allegations that Amar and Mithilesh Jha had filed a false case against Vikas and senior inspector Shaikh ought not have registered their complaint.