Gurugram Tenant Tragedy - Harassed For Rent By Landlord, Migrant Worker Takes His Own Life

A 45-year-old migrant worker, who earned his living as a plumber, allegedly killed himself by taking poison at the place he rented in Gurugram Sector 11. The suicide note was found by police at the scene, according to a TNN report.

It happened in an area that came under Shivaji Nagar Police Station. Police said he had alleged that his landlord was harassing him for rent as per the suicide note. He was found dead by his neighbour who had gone to wake him up. An empty packet of poison was near the body.

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The police stated that his neighbour has also said that the landlord was pressurizing him to pay rent. A case of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the landlord.

The deceased man¡¯s family members live in Odisha. On being contacted, they said that they will not be able to collect his body as their area lies in a containment zone, the police added. Moreover, they also said that it was out of their affordability to come to Gurugram for collecting his body. His body has been kept in the mortuary.

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Ajit, assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Shivaji Nagar police station, told Hindustan Times that the man used to stay alone at a rented room for Rs 6,000. He had left his family 30 years ago. During the initial investigation, it was found that the now-deceased man had a pending amount of Rs 30,000 as rent that he owed to the landlord. With work drying up due to the imposition of lockdown for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, he no opportunities to earn money and was under severe stress.

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While speaking to HT over a phone call, the deceased man¡¯s relatives said that he used to call them on rare occasions and had last visited them 10 years ago when he met with an accident. A few days ago, he rang them and evinced his desire to return home as he was facing financial problems. They said that he can return if he wishes to but will have to remain quarantined for 14 days as the Delhi-NCR region has a high load of COVID-19 cases. The relatives added that now they were making attempts to reach out to the deceased man¡¯s wife and his children in order to ask them to collect the body.