Hours after being questioned over the disappearance of a female colleague, an employee of the Bengaluru Metro Railway Corporation committed suicide.
The deceased Santosh Kumar’s mother Pushpa found her son’s body hanging from the ceiling of their Magadi Road residence on Thursday morning when she went to wake him up.
A case of unnatural death has been registered by Kamakshipalya Police Station.
In his eight-page suicide note, Santosh, however, said that mental harassment led him to this extreme decision. He mentioned both work-related and personal issues in his note.
Santosh was questioned by Chandra Layout police on Wednesday evening over the disappearance of his female colleague, a mother of an eight-year-old.
“We questioned him for 30 minutes as he was the woman’s colleague. We cannot give details on why we questioned the man,” a police official told Deccan Herald .
Asking for the woman to return, Santosh wrote, "We have fought for so many reasons and issues. But don't keep them in heart," reported The Times of India.
"Dear BMRCL colleagues, I have one request for you. I am not a bad man.Please don't speak ill of me," he added.
Harassment from BMRCL
DH reported that an extract of his suicide note read, "The BMRCL management has a share in my suicide. Over the last few months, senseless rules have been imposed on staff. There is a rule prohibiting us from taking mutual (exchange of work shifts). Which company has such rules? How will the employees work?"
"Employees can't ask the management for anything. If we ask, we will get a memo. From the last one month, I have been unable to work. Though I have requested for a change, nobody is listening," he added.
Denying any harassment, a senior metro official said Santosh was never issued any memo.
“The question of harassing staff does not exist at all. No action has been taken yet against employees despite the major protest on July 7 which brought train operations in the city to a standstill,” the official told The New Indian Express.
However, the BMRCL employees union has asked for action on the top management and threatened protests if the police did not investigate the issue.