KOZHIKODE: Havildar (retd) Rajan Nair, whose body was found hanging from a tree in the backyard of his house at Balussery on March 26, had left a suicide note, saying that he had taken the extreme step “unable to bear the insult” meted out to him by circle inspector Sushil Kumar following a minor brush with a private bus the previous day. According to Mr Abhilash, son of Mr Nair, the incident occurred at Eramanagalam when he was on the pillion with his father, who was on way to Thamarassery for the evening shift at a crusher unit. Mr Nair was an employee at the security firm, G4S. His father’s bike scraped the private bus, which was on a reverse drive at the junction.
A minor argument ensued between Mr Nair and bus owner Anish. Later, Mr Nair rode off for but dropped by at Balussery police station to file a complaint. “However, the CI, who was seen collecting a packet from Mr Anish, slapped my father twice and dragged him to the station. He was taunted, asking him whether he was drunk. My father admitted he had taken a glass of toddy at a party in the morning. But the CI threatened him saying he would have to cough up Rs 25,000 in damages. He was later let off on bail”, said Mr Abhilash. Mr Nair, who had to leave his bike at the station, returned home in tears. He then went out of the house on some pretext and rang relatives to say that he would end his life as he could not bear the first-ever insult at a police station.
The relatives tried to trace out Mr Nair but in vain. The body was found the next morning. The family members found the note by chance while rummaging the house a week later, when they confirmed the motive behind the suicide. Local people, who knew Mr Nair, retired from the Artillery 17 years ago, have formed an action council, demanding exemplary punishment to CI Susheel Kumar. An all-party meeting on Tuesday evening resolved to petition the Government. Thamarassery DySP K Ashraf told DC that the relatives had not yet handed over the alleged suicide note. “Our effort is to ascertain the authenticity of the note and further steps would depend on the outcome of the verification”. He said Mr Nair was booked for drunken driving on March 25 and let off on bail. The next day he was reported to have committed suicide. “There was no harassment on the part of the circle inspector at the police station”, he said, adding that the charges were being probed by the Crime Branch and special branch.
