The Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar is no stranger to controversy. But in the latest instance where a lady with two children who are less than five years, has complained that the minister and his son, are responsible for the suicides of both her father-in-law and her husband in quick succession, there is no plausible reason, for the Pernem police led by PI Devendra Gad not to register this complaint for six days. He must be directed to immediately register the complaint against the minister and if there is prima facie evidence that the charges are genuine, Minister Mandrekar must be interrogated and if required be arrested. Or else the case must be transferred to another agency.
From the information that Herald has gathered on this, with detailed documentation available, Mr Mandrekar and his sunny boy Sameer, have some serious explaining to do to deny the abetment to suicide charges against them.
The woman, Priya Nilesh Mitbowkar in her complaint has stated that Mandrekar and his son Samir are responsible for suicide of her husband on November 26 as he was under duress due to harassment by the minister.
According to Mitbowkar, Mandrekar wanted them to be evicted from the property bearing survey no 182/4 of Morjim Village, their home for half a century. The minister had bought this tenanted land from the original landowner, which is blatantly illegal. And then, according to the lady who lost her husband and father-in-law, the Mandrekar’s sought to remove all traces of the Mitbowker’s presence in the property, in official records.
This seems to have become the standard operating procedure for powerful private players as well as the powerful in government to grab land. Buy from the land owner of tenanted land, who actually cannot sell and leave the tenants, the deemed owners, in the lurch.
However, what sets the Mitbowker case completely apart is that two deaths have occurred, allegedly due to the direct and unbearable harassment of a minister and his footloose and carefree son. This is no longer a civil dispute but a serious criminal case. Two deaths have occurred, and the Pernem police appear to have treated this as a routine suicide, if ever there can be any “routine” suicide.
According to locals, the harassment of Priya Mitbowker’s family was public knowledge. So was her husband’s reported clear communication to minister Mandrekar that his torture and harassment tactics was driving him to suicide. If the Pernem police have soft peddled this case, even after the death of Priya’s father-in-law, then it is complicit in this crime. The inactions of the Pernem police should be as much under probe as the activities of the minister.
There is a larger issue here. When the complaint is against a very senior and powerful minister, then the local PI just doesn’t have the courage to even register a case against him, because more often than not, especially in more remote areas, he is handpicked by the ruling local political satrap, and reports to him rather than his superiors in uniform.
We will continue to have instances when hapless victims of torture by powerful ministers, will not have their complaints registered, while they continue to live under threat or fear for having had the temerity to file a complaint against the powerful.
In this case, the case should be handed over to another agency, registered and the minister called for questioning. In any case, since this has come to Herald’s attention, we will ensure that this story doesn’t fall off the radar till an honest inquiry is done.
