Daijiworld Media Network - Mysuru (SP)

Mysuru, Jul 20: B Shankarayya, tahsildar of T Narasipura in the district, hanged himself at Kabini lodge at T Narasipura on the night of Tuesday July 18. Policemen said that Shankarayya had left behind a death note in which he gave the reason for this extreme step as work pressure.

Wife of the deceased, Pushpalata, however, claimed that political and police harassment had pushed her husband to the verge of committing suicide.

Shankarayya from Mandya district was working as tahsildar of T Narasipura since August last. He had taken a week's leave due to ill health and rejoined for duties on July 17. He had informed his wife, who stays at Mandya, that he could not be able to visit home on account of video conference scheduled on Tuesday at the office. He stayed in the lodge and hanged himself from the ceiling fan at night.

The driver who came to pick him for office on Wednesday morning, got suspicious as Shankarayya did not open the door of the room even after repeated knocking. He conveyed information to  colleagues who peeped thtough the window and found that the tahsildar had ended his life. District deputy commissioner, D Randeep, superintendent of police, Ravi D Channannavar and other officials visited the spot.

Thereafter, postmortem was conducted at Mysore Medical College before the body was shifted to his house at Mandya.   The funeral  was scheduled for Thursday. Based on complaint lodged by the wife of the deceased, Pushplata, police have registered a case.

Pushpalata said that her husband repeatedly lamented the fact that there was no value for sincerity in T Narasipura and that he was finding it hard to work there. "We tried for getting transfer to Mandya but it did not yield results. Me and my children even had advised him to resign if it was so hard.  He did not have pressure from higher ups by political pressure was too much," she stated. However, she did not take the name of politicians involved.

Deputy commissioner, Randeep, said that in deference to Shankarayya's request to give non-executive position, his workload had been shifted to a grade 2 officer at Nanjangud.

Pushpalata is an advocate based in Mandya. The couple have three children, with first  son working as engineer at Bengaluru and the seecond son is pursuing MBBS course at Mysuru. The couple's daughter, Nandini, is a BE graduate, and her engagement ceremony had been performed recently. The family was planning to hold her marriage during October.