Mandvi case: ‘Cops’ booked for driving man to suicide, kin finally cremate him

Gariyadhar police had registered a case of accidental death on March 26 after Gujarati allegedly took his own life. However, Gujarati’’s family refused to perform his last rites until a case was registered against policemen, who, they claimed, drove him to suicide. The deadlock continued for nine days until Monday night when Bhavnagar district collector Harshad Patel and SP Deepankar Trivedi accepted the family’s three demands — booking “policemen” for abetting Gujarati’s suicide, conducting narco test on the sole accused arrested and other suspects and handing over the investigation of the case to some other agencies. Gujarati’’s wife Sonal gave her complaint to Gariyadhar police on Tuesday morning. Based on her complaint, Gariyadhar police booked “policemen” under IPC Sections 306 and 114 for abetting Gujarati’s suicide and in-charge deputy superintendent of police (DySP) of Palitana division, Vanrajsinh Manjariya, was assigned the investigation.

Hours after the FIR was registered at Gariyadhar police station, Gujarati’s funeral procession was taken out from his home. BJP MLA from Dhari, Nalin Kotadiya, who has been openly supporting PAAS agitation over quota demand, attended the funeral. In-charge DySP and sub-divisional magistrate of Palitana were also present.

Deepankar Trivedi said they’d thoroughly investigate Gujarati’s death. “The case of accidental death which had initially registered after Gujarati’s death will now become part of the FIR registered under Section 306. Such a case can be investigated by a head constable. But we have assigned the probe to an officer of DySP rank as we are very keen to know as to why Gujarati committed suicide,” the SP told The Indian Express. “The family performed Gujarati’s last rites after the police registered FIR against accused policemen. However, we had also demanded that the policemen be booked under Atrocities Act also as Gujarati’s wife Sonal, who is the complainant, is a tribal. We shall approach court if the police don’t add relevant sections,” said Babu Mangukia, advocate of the family.

Inspector General of Police of Bhavnagar range Amit Kumar Vishwakarma said they had summoned Gujarati as witness in the case. “We had summoned him three-four times as a witness. He was one of the many persons whom we had questioned in connection with the case,” Vishwakarma, who is heading the SIT probing the rape and murder case, said.