The Pune police are probing relatives of RTI activist Vilas Baravkar (52), who allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday. However, the police said “more proof” was required to initiate an enquiry against the cops whom Baravkar named in his suicide note.
The case was transferred to the Deputy Superintendent of Police on Wednesday.
In his note written on a hundred-rupee stamp paper, Baravkar had accused 52 people: 27 cops, including four IPS officers, and his relatives of harassing him.
The police said the activist, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his house on Tuesday morning, had been filing RTI applications on various illegal land deals in the Chakan area here.
Refusing to reveal the names of the police officers named in the suicide note, Additional Superintendent of Police Vijaykumar Magar said the allegations against them were not “specific.”
“The allegations are vague. We will investigate if he [the activist] was directly associated with the officers,” Mr. Magar said.
Baravkar’s son-in-law Sushil Shevkari told reporters that he appeared depressed on Monday. “He told me he was being harassed by several people, but did not name anybody.”
Baravkar had been given police protection since 2010, after the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty in Pune.
He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
