VILAS BARAVKAR SUICIDE CASE

RTI activist

pilgrim

Satish Shetty

Sanjay Kumar

Surajya Sangharsha Samiti

Vijay Kumbhar

Sandeep Shetty

VIJAY KUMBHAR RTI activist

Two years after he committed suicide,Vilas Baravkar’s family is feeling pushed to follow suit, unable to take the harassment they are being subjected to in the name of investigation. Baravkar’s wife, Ujjwala, in a letter dated January 25 and addressed to the state home department, district police superintendent and state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), has urged that all inquiry into the suicide of her husband be halted.Unlike her husband’s suicide note which listed 78 people, including politician, senior police officials and lower level government officials for pushing to his end, she avoided naming anybody. She only said that the “repeated inquiry” by the police and “the justice system” has been telling on her family.“Due to this, my family has been subjected to mental, physical, financial and social harassment,” she stated in the letter. She refused to elaborate when Mirror called her on Monday, except to reiterate, “My entire family is suffering in the name of investigation.”In fact, to underscore their distress, she has threatened that if the inquiry is not halted, she along with her children may have to opt to follow her husband’s example and end their lives. “We are not aware of the exact reason why my husband committed suicide. He worked in the field of right to information (RTI), human rights, anti-corruption, consumer movement and was part of a Warkari Sampraday (group). He had unearthed many scams deploying RTI and also compelled the arrest of many a fraudster and godman working with Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS),” she pointed out in the letter. Baravkar was also a close associate of the slain RTI-activist,Vilas Baravkar was found hanging at his Chakan home on March 25, 2014. A four-page suicide note written out on Rs 100 stamp paper was recovered from the room. The names listed out 27 police personnel, including four IPS officers, who had served as superintendent of police (SP) with Pune rural police over a span of 20 years. Given the gravity of the case, the investigation was handed over to the CID. However, investigation against some of their own, besides high-profile politicians and power brokers, requires high level of integrity and perseverance. The letter sent out by Ujjwala Baravkar has cast an aspersion of the victim being further victimized by the process of investigation.When contacted,, additional director-general of police, told Mirror, “We have not received the letter yet. But if this is the case, we will definitely inquire into the matter and hear out the grievances against the investigation.” However, Dr Jay Jadhav, SP, Pune (rural), steered clear of discussing the issue, saying that the case was with the CID and his department had no role to play.“It is shocking that the family members are being treated so by the investigating agencies and other miscreants. The cops need to investigate the case with extreme sensitivity so that the victim’s family don’t end up feeling harassed by their questioning. It appears as if the police are in a hurry to rid themselves of the investigation and are repeatedly questioning the family to absolve some of the people named in the suicide note. They are using pressure tactics to push Baravkar’s widow into submission, so she yields a statement they prefer which will help to bring the case to a closure,” noted city-based RTI activist and president ofsaid.Satish Shetty’s brother,, who has been fighting his battle in trying to expedite the investigation and arrest of the murderers of his sibling, is not surprised by this outcome. “The investigating agencies always try to push the case in the direction they want to take it. In this endeavour, they even harass the witness or complainant until they get their way. They did not dare to mess with me given my strong legal grounding, but chose to ignore us in the process of investigation,” he pointed out.█ They are using pressure tactics to push Baravkar’s widow into submission, so she yields a statement they prefer which will take the case to a closure