Sanjay Kohkade, a 45-year-old farmer, jumped into a well and died in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Tuesday following the revenue officials' apparent humiliation and threat of legal consequences for complaining against a drainage line that flooded his farm and blocked the access.
The incident occurred following a road construction excavation that allegedly caused rainwater to enter Kakde’s field. This caused his farm to get flooded, destroyed the crops and blocked access to his farm.
Kohkade’s niece said to India Today, “Mandal officer and Talathi were defending their reasoning for the work. My uncle tried to explain our ordeal to the officials, but to no avail. Even after he jumped into the well, the officers didn’t bother to consider us seriously.”
Following the suicide, Shiv Sena MLA Vilas Bhumre told India Today, “As soon as I received this information, I rushed to meet the Kohkade family. And as a representative of the region, after the inquiry, I will take action against all the culprits and will help them financially as per the government norms.”
Kohkade’s family members have demanded an FIR against the revenue officials and those involved in threatening legal action. And staged a protest outside the Pachod rural hospital after the incident, opposing the postmortem until they were assured of a police action.
