2 More Youths Hang Themselves in Maharashtra, Suicide Notes Point to Reservation Demand

Mumbai/Aurangabad: Amid the ongoing agitation for reservation, Maharashtra reported two suicides on Saturday allegedly over the delay in grant of quotas.

The deceased were identified as 25-year-old Arun Jagannath Bhadale and 22-year-old Parmeshwar Baban Ghongde, residents of Navi Mumbai and Aurangabad, respectively.

According to the police, Bhadale’s purported suicide note mentioned his anguish over the Maratha community not getting reservation. This is the eighth such suicide in the state in the last two weeks, where the deceased linked the extreme step to the Maratha quota demand.

Bhadale, a resident of the Turbhe area, ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling of the balcony in his house, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhakar Pathare told PTI. "We recovered a suicide note in which he mentions failure to get loan and the Maratha reservation issue. We are verifying if the note was written by him," he added.

Bhadale, hailing from Bhor in Pune district, worked at the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), Pathare said. According to another police official, his purported suicide note said he had applied to a private finance company for personal loan and deposited Rs 27,000 as demanded, but he was cheated by the company.

"On one hand, we are not getting loan and on the other hand government is not giving us Marathas the reservation, there is no option left other than committing suicide," the note said.

Senior police inspector Sanjay Nikam of the APMC police station said the police recovered the suicide note from Bhadale's bag which he had left at his brother's house in the Kopar Khairane area on Friday night.

The family of Parmeshwar Baban Ghongde, the other deceased, alleged that he had ended his life over the demand of Scheduled Tribe status for the Dhangar (shepherd) community in the state.

An officer of MIDC Paithan police station said Parmeshwar had asked his parents for money to attend a Dhangar reservation rally in Pune, but they could not give him any money.

He allegedly hanged himself at his house on Friday night.

His purported suicide note said that "Dhangar community should get reservation". His parents and relatives demanded that the police record that he committed suicide for reservation, the officer said, adding that further probe was on.

(With PTI inputs)