Santosh K. Patil, a BJP worker from Belagavi district, who reportedly ended his life after sending a message to his friends blaming Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa for his death, had repeatedly hinted at taking the extreme step in the past couple of months, if issues he found himself trapped in were not resolved.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patil had said he was caught in a debt trap as he had carried out 108 works based on the assurance of Mr. Eshwarappa, who was now neither issuing work orders nor clearing bills.
He said in his letter that the Minister’s associates were pressuring him to “provide commission for completed work” and he was under “great tension” and had “a huge pressure of creditors” who had given him loans on interest. If the payment and work order was not given immediately as promised, Patil said that he had no option “except suicide.” He had got no response for the letter. He had told media persons that he had met several senior BJP leaders, again to no avail.
