Nishad Party’s ex-secy kills self, kin accuse min of harassment

Gorakhpur: Nishad Party's former state secretary Dharmatma Nishad died by suicide at his Maharajganj residence on Sunday. His body was cremated on Monday. The police FIR, lodged in connection with the incident, accuses one JP Nishad and three other unidentified persons of compelling Dharmatma to commit suicide.
Adding a political angle to the incident is a social media post, purportedly written by Dharmatma before he ended his life, accusing minister Sanjay Nishad and his sons of extreme harassment which compelled him to take the extreme step. Dharmata's wife Gyani Nishad and his brother Parmatma Nishad have also accused the minister and his sons of forcing Dharmatma to take the extreme step.
Minister Sanjay Nishad has, however, refuted the allegations levelled against him and his sons and demanded a thorough investigation into Dharmatma's death. He has also expressed suspicion over the authenticity of the social media post.
The Facebook post was written on Sunday - the day Dharmatma died. Investigations were underway to verify if the social media post was written by Dharmatma Nishad himself before he ended his life. His body was found hanging from the ceiling of his room at his Paniyara residence in Maharajganj on Sunday.
In the Facebook post minister Sanjay Nishad and his sons have been accused of nursing enmity with Dharmatma as his popularity within the Nishad community was growing. "I have devoted more time to the party than to my own family. Seeing my popularity, these people became restless. For the past two years, they have been trying to weaken me. Because of them, I had to go to jail. Many times, I felt like killing them all," the post read.
After Dharmatma's death, his brother Parmatma Nishad and local Samajwadi Party functionary Amarendra Nishad demanded action against those responsible for his death. Dharmatma's wife Gyani claimed that in their written complaint, the family had named minister Sanjay Nishad, sons Praveen Nishad and Shravan Nishad along with one Jai Prakash Nishad as accused. In the FIR only JP Nishad is named as accused along with three "unidentified" others.
Gyani Nishad has also demanded immediate arrest of all the accused, Rs 50 lakh compensation from the govt and a govt job for a member of the family.
Superintendent of police, Maharajganj, Somendra Meena, told TOI that an FIR under the charges of abetment of suicide against one named as JP Nishad and three unidentified others.
"A police circle rank officer is conducting a probe on the allegations raised by the family and also against others named by the family, including the minister Sanjay Nishad," said Meena.
Meena told TOI that the cyber cell has also been roped in for a probe in the case.