Man ends life over house demolition

‘Officials manhandled him when he resisted’; consumed poisonous substance: cops

June 28, 2019 01:29 am | Updated 01:29 am IST - New Delhi

Government officials on Thursday demolished 26 houses in Bawana.

Government officials on Thursday demolished 26 houses in Bawana.

A 40-year-old man ended his life after his house was demolished by government officials in Outer North Delhi’s Bawana on Thursday afternoon, the police said.

DCP (Outer North) Gaurav Sharma said the man is survived by his wife and two children.

Had taken loan

“Preliminary enquiry revealed that he had recently constructed the house for which he had taken a loan. During demolition, he consumed a poisonous substance. He told his wife about it when he was rushed to a hospital. He died during treatment,” Mr. Sharma said.

His nephew said the deceased was a private LIC agent and also did pest control work. “Around 12 p.m., officials came and started taking out his belongings from inside the house. He pleaded to the officials but they manhandled him,” said the nephew added.

A government official said the land, on which the house was built, was acquired for construction of highway and the proceedings were on since 2012.

“The residents had approached the High Court and the Supreme Court regarding the matter. In January, the courts demarcated the land for demolition. Initially, there were 70 houses and then it was finally brought down to 26, which were demolished today [Thursday]. The residents were informed on June 19 to vacate their houses when they had asked for a few more days, which they were given,” the official said, adding that the family is authorised to get compensation. His family claimed that he had written to Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), demanding “action against actual culprit”.

His family said he had sold his property in his hometown in Bihar’s Samastipur after which he had bought this land and constructed the house.

Suicide prevention helpline: Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health, Telephone: 011-4076 9002, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. -7.30 p.m.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.