The Mahoba district administration on Tuesday ordered a probe into the alleged suicide of a 55-year-old farmer, whose body was found hanging from the ceiling in his room at Pahreta village in Charkhari area Monday morning.
According to his brother, Uma Shankar had not left his home since stray cattle destroyed his crops a week ago. He also had a debt of Rs 1.8 lakh, taken from a nationalised bank. Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Charkhari area, Chandra Shekhar said, “Nayab tehsildar Amar Kant has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the allegation of Uma Shankar taking the step over stray cattle damaging his crop. We came to know about the matter through the media.”
Shankar, who was unmarried, used to live with his two younger brothers, Hanuman and Kripa. Hanuman told The Indian Express that Uma used to look after their farming land (5 bighas) and that they had been facing trouble over stray cattle destroying their crops of wheat and pulses for the last three weeks. Cattle had entered their land after breaking an iron fence they had erected last year to protect the crops, he added.
“Farming is our lone source of income. We made all efforts to stop the cattle from entering the field, but nothing worked,” Hanuman further said. “Last week, we found that most of our crops had been damaged by the cattle. Uma Shankar got worried over it because he had to repay a loan of Rs 1.80 lakh. He had also borrowed from some money lenders. He was upset and had stopped going to the field for the last four days. Instead he stayed home and was aloof. On Monday morning, when he did not come out of his room, we knocked on his door and got no response. We broke into the room to find his body hanging from a hook,” said Hanuman, adding that the family then alerted the police. Station House Officer (SHO) of Kharela police station, Brijesh Bahadur, said, “Autopsy report has stated the death occurred due to hanging.”
“During preliminary inquiry, local residents informed us that Uma Shankar has suffered injuries on his right leg after a drum containing oil fell on him. He had been depressed since after the injury,” he added. However, Hanuman said his brother had almost recovered from the injury, and that even though he had a little trouble walking, it could not have been the reason for ending his life. The SHO claimed that none of the villagers told police that they suspected Uma Shankar took the step because cattle had damaged his crops.
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