Nearly five months after Mr. Charudutta Desphande, former chief of corporate communication of Tata Steel committed suicide, the Thane police have registered an FIR in the case.
The FIR has been registered against Mr. Prabhat Sharma, head of the corporate affairs of the Jamshedpur unit for abetment to suicide.
On June 28, 2013, Mr. Charudutta had committed suicide at his Vasai home. There was no suicide note left behind.
The FIR has been registered after a complaint has been lodged by Mr. Indrajit Gupta, a journalist. In his complaint, Mr. Gupta has claimed that Mr. Charudutta was mentally tortured and humiliated during his stint at the Jamshedpur unit and this drove him to commit suicide, the police said.
The police has made no arrest so far and is in the process of gathering evidence. The Mumbai crime branch that was asked by the state home minister Mr. R.R. Patil to also probe the case says that they found that Mr. Charudutta was under pressure and investigation in the case is underway.
“We had recovered a diary where he had named Mr. Sharma and stated that he was unhappy with his job,” joint commissioner of police, Mr. Himanshu Roy told the press.
When contacted, a Tata spokesperson through a press release told The Hindu that an internal enquiry committee constituted to probe the case, has submitted its report to the Board.
“Tata Steel is aware of the FIR filed by the Vasai Police in the matter relating to the unfortunate demise of its former employee, Mr. Charudatta Deshpande. The company has been fully and openly cooperating with the investigation, and will continue to assist the legal process,” the press statement release read.
