MP farmer commits suicide over non-payment of power bills

Chhattarpur (MP), December 31

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A 35-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide after the power company attached his flour mill and motorcycle over non-payment of electricity bills in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhattarpur district, police said on Thursday.

Munendra Rajput allegedly committed suicide at Matguvan village, some 17 km from the district headquarters, on Wednesday afternoon, an official said.

The deceased left behind a suicide note, in which he has stated that the government should sell his body parts to recover the pending electricity dues, the victim’s brother Lokendra Rajput on Thursday said.

The police have confirmed the recovery of the suicide note.

“My brother had pleaded to the government officials to give him some time to pay his dues, as even after the coronavirus-induced lockdown was lifted, his business had not picked up after sustaining losses,” Lokendra said.

Even the victim’s Kharif crop had failed and to make up the loss, he ran the flour mill, he claimed.

Lokendra further alleged that his brother could not run his mill for better part of the year, but the power distribution company had handed him a yearly average bill instead of reading his electricity meter to work out the actual power consumption.

“A case has been registered in connection with the suicide and investigations are underway,” area police inspector Kamaljeet Singh said.

Meanwhile, the district’s Bijawar area MLA Rajesh Kumar Shukla has written to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking stern action against people responsible for the farmer’s suicide and sought financial help for the man’s family.

According to a government release, Chhattarpur collector Sheelendra Singh has provided a relief of Rs 25,000 to the deceased’s kin. PTI