BENGALURU: A 45-year-old techie’s dream of building a house ended on a sad note as he died by suicide, accusing a family and officials of the erstwhile BBMP, now Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), of abetting his extreme act through harassment.Murali Govindaraju, a resident of Brookbong Layout in Whitefield, worked with a private software company at ITPL. The father of two minor girls was found dead in his under-construction house at Nallurahalli Wednesday morning.Police arrested Shashi Nambiar (64) and his wife Usha (57), on charges of abetting the suicide and are looking for their son, Varun. The couple was produced before a magistrate and remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
Police recovered a 10-page death note, which accused the Nambiars of abetting his suicide through harassment. According to the note, the family, along with a few GBA officials, tortured him, stating he violated the rules by not constructing the building according to the approved plan and repeatedly demanded Rs 20 lakh to hush up the matter.Murali’s mother, Lakshmi Govindaraju (61), filed a criminal complaint at the Whitefield police station against Shashi and Usha, accusing them of trying to extort Rs 20 lakh from her son, torturing him for refusing, and abetting his suicide.Lakshmi alleged the Nambiars encouraged GBA officials to harass Murali. Police booked Shashi and Usha under sections 108 (abetment to suicide) and 308 (extortion) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Murali had purchased the land at Nallurahalli from a close relative of the Nambiars in 2018. “When my son began constructing a house on the land, Usha and Shashi started harassing and torturing him. They repeatedly demanded Rs 20 lakh from him. When my son refused, Usha complained to BBMP officials, who came near the construction site and harassed my son. My son told me that today (Wednesday) was the deadline to pay Rs 20 lakh. My son told me that Usha and Shashi were torturing him. Bearing this in mind, he left our house (Brookbong Layout) around 6am. He reached the under-construction house and hanged himself on the second floor. I seek legal action against Usha Nambiar and Shashi Nambiar for abetting my son’s suicide through harassment,” according to his mother’s complaint.GBA officials had issued a notice to Murali, directing him to appear before them Wednesday. “Investigations, so far, revealed that Usha approached BBMP, accusing Murali of violating the approved plan. Accordingly, BBMP, after making a spot inspection, issued a notice. The spat between Murali and the Nambiars dated back to 2018, when he purchased the land measuring 40×60 sqft. The Nambiars, for one reason or another, fought with Murali and made him run around the BBMP office, police station, and local court. The couple allegedly demanded Rs 20 lakh to stop harassing him,” police said.A senior police officer said many locals accused the Nambiars of extorting money by filing cases against them in BBMP/GBA. “According to locals, many houses are constructed in and around Nallurahalli where Usha Nambiar plays the role of an activist. If someone is harassed or tortured by the Nambiars, we request them to come forward and file a police complaint,” he said.
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