The officer said while no suicide note had been left behind by the builder, his son told them that Agarwal had been under stress due to the several complaints that had been filed against him by the accused with several authorities. (Representational)NEARLY 10 days after a Chembur builder committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, the Mumbai Police hs registered an FIR against five people, who had purchased flats in the building that the deceased was to redevelop.
Sanjay Agarwal (57) shot himself at his office in Chembur on January 3 with his licensed revolver. Agarwal had been involved in a redevelopment project on 10th road in Chembur that had been delayed causing some people who had purchased flats in the project to file complaints against him.
A senior officer said, “Based on the statement given by Agarwal’s son and our initial investigation, an FIR on the charge of abetment to suicide has been registered against five persons who had been harassing him due to the delay in the project that he was redeveloping.” The officer added that the five people who have been booked so far had purchased flats in the building that Agarwal was redeveloping. Following repeated delays, the five people had been submitting complaints against Agarwal with several government authorities, including police. The accused are not original building tenants but the ones who had purchased the resale flats on the additional floors that were to come up in the redeveloped building.
The officer said while no suicide note had been left behind by the builder, his son told them that Agarwal had been under stress due to the several complaints that had been filed against him by the accused with several authorities.
“As of now we are investigating to find out if there is a strong evidence to prove that the accused had harassed him to the extent of pushing him to commit suicide. Depending on the what we find in the investigation, we may chargesheet them,” the officer added.
Soon after the suicide, the police had said some people who had purchased flats in Agarwal’s building had submitted complaints at the Chembur police station against him for delay in the project.
“No merit was found in these complaints. Following this, they had again submitted a complaint against the builder recently,” the officer added.
Agarwal who resided at Khar with his family, had come to his Chembur office on January 3 around 11am. As seen in the CCTV camera in his cabin, he waited for half-an-hour, after which he had pulled out a revolver and shot himself in the temple. His son and brother-in-law who were in the adjacent room rushed him to the hospital, where he was declared dead. The Chembur police had registered an accidental death report in the matter initially before an FIR was registered this week.
