Hyderabad: Paan trader ends life after police terrorise' him in land deal
Hyderabad: Depressed at being harassed by a landowner, a 30-year-old paan trader committed suicide at SR Nagar on Wednesday.
Police said that Manoj, the landowner who sold the land to Pradeep’s family, started demanding more money. Troubled, Pradeep hanged himself at home.
However, his family said that he became tensed as his father was picked up by a police task force and was threatened at the behest of Manoj. Police denied the allegations and filed an abetment to suicide case against Manoj.
Police said J. Pradeep, 30, owned a paan shop on Dharam Karam Road. His father J. Vinod Vinod, purchased 190 yards of land from Manoj 18 months ago. At the time they made an agreement to pay Rs 50 lakh. They paid Rs 5 lakh as advance and the balance was agreed to be paid later. When the payment became due, Manoj started demanding more than what was agreed.
On Wednesday, when Pradeep, his father Vinod, and their advocate were discussing the issue, Pradeep suddenly ran home and locked himself up in his room. “Then he called one of his friends Kranti who was with his father and told him to give the phone to the advocate and said that he was committing suicide,” SR Nagar inspector Md Waheeduddin said.
His friends and father rushed home, broke open the door and found him hanging. Later, Pradeep was declared dead at a hospital. Pradeep’s family alleged that the police had picked up his father Vinod on Tuesday and had threatened him to settle the issue with Manoj at the earliest, or else false cases would be filed against Pradeep and his elder brother Praveen.
“They called me to their office and threatened me that the future of both my sons will be spoilt if I do not settle the issue immediately,” Pradeep's father J. Vinod said.
Police said Vinod was summoned when Manoj complained of a threat from them. “We called both parties and told them to resolve the issue amicably and let them off after a couple of hours,” a police official said. A suspicious death case was registered.
