CHOUHAN ORDERS PROBE INTO FARMER’S ‘SUICIDE’

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday ordered an inquiry by an Ig-rank police officer into the alleged suicide by a 32-year-old farmer in Seoni district on September 29.

The farmer is said to have consumed pesticide after the grain mandi did not pay his dues of ₹5.50 lakh for 120 quintals of gram crop he had sold four months earlier. He died on October 1. Chouhan, who was on a one-day visit to Seoni, announced the probe at a public meeting after local MLA Dinesh Rai Munmun raised the issue. Earlier, Congress had highlighted the issue in Bhopal and slammed the government its insensitivity towards farmers.

Congress vice-president (media cell) Bhupendra Gupta alleged that on September 25, Sant Kumar Sanodiya of Bhandarpur village had written a letter, reportedly in blood, to the Seoni district collector warning that he would commit suicide if his dues were not cleared by September 28. The letter was widely circulated on social media.

The Congress leader claimed that finding his dues not cleared by that date, Sanodiya drank pesticide on September 29. He was taken to a local hospital and then shifted to one in Nagpur where he died on October 1. Next day, angry villagers blocked the national highway and demanded compensation of ₹1 crore and a job for his kin. Sensing trouble, the administration announced ₹10 lakh in damages.

The farmer’s younger brother, Gyan Singh Sanodiya (28), alleged it was the administration’s apathy that led to his brother’s death. “Despite the warning letter... the administration did not take any action...”. He said the administration gave a cheque of ₹5 lakh so far, and alleged that it prevented them from meeting the CM...”

Seoni district magistrate Gopal Chandra Dand, however, said, “On investigation conducted after his death, the district administration found that neither was Sant Kumar Sanodiya a farmer nor did he sell any crop to any mandi... He was a small trader who had deposited the 120 quintal of gram taken from other farmers at the co-operative society well after the last date of submission, so his claim was not registered and he was blackmailing the society to pay him.”