The series of incidents at the Sringeri taluk office that began with the arrest of Sringeri tahsildar earlier this month took a new turn with the death of the tahsildar’s driver Vijeth Hegtur, 24. He was found dead near his house at Hegtur on Saturday evening, leaving a note that forced the police to suspect it to be a case of suicide.
The note reportedly carry several names and details related to allegations of corruption and the creation of false documents, for which the Sringeri taluk office has been in news for many days. Vijeth was working on a contractual basis as a driver for the tahsildar. He took the extreme step due to the mental torture he suffered following an investigation into the allegations of corruption in the office, according to his friends and relatives.
The people of Sringeri staged a protest, keeping his body in Sringeri town on Sunday demanding suitable compensation for his family. They alleged that he gave up his life for the mistakes committed by other officials. They took Assistant Commissioner H.L. Nagaraj to task, blaming the administration’s failure to take control of the situation in the office well in advance. Senior officers of the Revenue Department and political secretary to Chief Minister D.N. Jeevaraj spoke to the family members. It is said the local leaders promised a sum of ₹8 lakh to the family.
Vijeth’s brother Vineesh has filed a complaint with Sringeri Police. Three people including a staff member of the taluk office had been arrested by the police.
Chikkamagaluru SP Akshay M. Hakay speaking to The Hindu said that three people had been arrested based on the death note. Though the officer refused to divulge the content of the death note, he said going by the note it was clear he took this step due to the ongoing issues at his workplace.
Background
Following a complaint by a resident of the taluk Anti-Corruption Bureau, the police arrested tahsildar R. Ambuja and village accountant Siddappa while accepting a bribe for regularising a residential property on January 6. This led to a series of incidents. Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner K.N. Ramesh ordered a probe into the allegations of corruption in the Sringeri taluk office by a team of officials led by Assistant Commissioner Nagaraj. Initially, three staff members of the taluk office were suspended and went incommunicado.
The officers’ team found many files with regard to applications seeking regularization of residential properties missing in the office. Hundreds of applications were cleared based on false documents, it noticed. Recently, some more documents went missing from the tahsildar’s office, forcing the senior officers to file a police complaint. Following these incidents, the driver died by suicide. He is said to have mentioned several names and details pertaining to irregularities in the office in his death note.
A senior official in the district administration pointed out that had the officers of the Revenue Department acted diligently when they were alerted about the irregularities, the incidents would not have gone to this extent. All the documents in the office should have been seized at the beginning of the inquiry itself. As the senior officers were casual in their approach, the events took an ugly turn, he opined.
(Those in distress and those having suicidal thoughts can call up the State’s helpline 104 for counseling.)
