Yavatmal: In a bizarre incident, a 75-year-old farmer from Savleshwar village of Yavatmal district has apparently committed suicide by jumping into a self-made fodder pyre on his farm on Saturday.
The deceased Madhav Shankar Rawate is survived by wife Anusuya, 45-year-old son Gangadhar and three married daughters.
Rawate owned four acres of barren land at Savleshwar village which falls under Bittergaon police station in Umarkhed tehsil. The cotton he had sown was damaged by pink bollworm this season.
Rawate could reap only three quintals and he had a Rs60,000 loan liability.
“My father went to the farm which is 3 kms from home on Saturday afternoon. After a few hours, some villagers noticed smoke emanating from the farm and they rushed to our house to inform about the incident. I immediately rushed to the farm along with the villagers only to find charred remains of my father,” said Gangadhar.
Prima facie it appears that Rawate used the fodder heaps as a pyre and jumped into it after setting it on fire.
What drove Rawate to commit suicide is yet to be ascertained. Bittergaon police have registered a case of unnatural death and started investigation.
Yavatmal superintendent of police M Rajkumar said, “The police have not received any complaint from the family of the deceased Rawate. The family members also claimed that there was no reason for Rawate to commit suicide as he had no serious issues before him. Rawate may have set the fodder on fire to clear the farm and accidentally fallen into it,” Rajkumar said. He, however, said that the police would investigate the matter from all angles.
As the news about the incident spread, several politicians and social activists rushed to the village to meet the family members. Devanand Pawar, convener of Shetkari Nyay Hakk Samiti, after meeting the family blamed the government for neglecting farmers’ issues and forcing them to commit suicide.
This is the second farmer death in less than a week in Yavatmal. Last Tuesday, Shankar Bhaorao Chayare (55), a resident of Rajurwadi village of Ghatanji tehsil, had consumed pesticide to end his life. Chayare, in a six-page suicide note purportedly written by him, had blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others.
