Meerut: Booked in lawyer suicide case, man found hanging from tree

A 34-year-old man, booked along with a BJP MLA and 12 others in the suicide case of a Meerut lawyer, allegedly hanged himself from a tree at his native Dadri village in Daurala on Wednesday night.

Deceased Sanjay Motela, in a purported suicide note, blamed repeated police raids to arrest him as the reason for the extreme step. “My mother, wife, the wife of my elder brother and I were being hounded by the Ganganagar police. They were forced to remain at the women police station for two days to put pressure on my elder brother,” claimed Satish, the younger brother of Sanjay.

Brijendra Rana, the in-charge of Ganganagar police station, rejected the claim, saying that only Sanjay’s wife was taken into custody for “harbouring an offender”.

“We did not persecute any family member, nor have we taken into custody his brother and mother. Neelam, the wife of the deceased, has been booked under IPC section 216 (harbouring an offender).Only the wife was in our custody, and she has now been escorted back to her house after the suicide last night,” said Rana.

Sanjay, BJP MLA from Meerut’s Hastinapur constituency Dinesh Khatik and 12 others were booked for alleged abetment to suicide of Meerut lawyer Omkar Tomar on February 13.

According to the FIR, Khatik and others allegedly pressured Omkar to pay Rs 14 lakh to settle a dowry case filed against his son Luv, a high court lawyer, by his in-laws. Police said Sanjay was part of a meeting held between Omkar and Luv’s in-laws.

The police are yet to raid Khatik’s place. “We have informed the UP Assembly Speaker regarding the FIR lodged against the MLA as we cannot go ahead without his permission. We are conducting unbiased investigation. If found guilty, none will be spared,” said Meerut SSP Ajay Sahni.
Meerut lawyers on Thursday decided to extend their two-day strike and abstain from judicial work till Saturday.