A 47-year-old man, who worked as a Home Guard for the State police, was found dead at his house near Kallikadu early on Thursday.
The police identified the deceased as Sajeev, an ex-service man. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nedumangadu, K. Muhammad Shafi, said Sajeev had consumed poison.
The police found a suicide note stating that his family was not responsible for his death. The note stated that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should be informed about his death.
The police said Sajeev, along with 200 others, had worked for 43 days as Home Guards on daily wages helping the police regulate traffic near the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple during the Sabarimala pilgrimage season. The men, most of them decommissioned soldiers, had served the police for Rs.300 a day. However, the government had not given them their wages. The police suspect that Sajeev killed himself to highlight his plight and that of others with whom he had worked.
Local politicians demanded that the post-mortem examination on the body of Sajeev be done at the Government Medical College Hospital here and not at the local taluk hospital at Neyyatinkara.
Subsequently, the autopsy was conducted at the MCH in the presence of the Revenue officials. The procedure was also video-graphed.
Relatives and local politicians, who received Sajeev's body, said they would take it to the official residence of the Chief Minister at Cliff House. The police stopped the hearse and cavalcade of vehicles escorting it at Chalakuzhy. The Revenue Divisional Officer talked to Sajeev's relatives and promised to enquire into their grievances. He said the government would pay the wages due to Sajeev and other persons who worked temporarily as Home Guards at the earliest.
Sajeev's body was later taken to his house and cremated in the compound.
