Team Herald
MARGAO: Unpaid salary and possible harassment could have led a junior engineer of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Khalwade, Canacona.
Subesh Deshmukh (45), who was a staff member of the BDO deputed at the Zilla Panchayat, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself to a wooden rafter in his house. The final rites were performed on Friday evening after a post-mortem.
While sources have informed that Subesh had not been paid his salary for quite a long time, his death has raised doubts of possible harassment at a government office at Margao.
According to his family, Subesh lived in a house next to his uncle’s house in Khalwade, and on Wednesday evening, he was seen entering his house by the neighbours. The family did not know about the incident until there emanated a smell from his house. They entered the house to discover that he had allegedly ended his life.
Subesh’s uncle said that his nephew was indeed struggling with salary issues and the latter had not received salary for the leave he had taken during his mother’s death.
“He may have been irregular at work and an alcoholic, but he did his job well. We felt sad when we heard that his salary during his days of mourning wasn’t released,” said Sandeep Gaonkar, Subesh’s uncle, adding, “He may have committed suicide between 4 pm and 9 pm on Wednesday as he wasn’t seen or heard from after he entered his house.”
It was also learnt that Subesh had recently received Rs 1 lakh as a settlement of his salaries.
When contacted, Director of Panchayats Gurudas Pilernekar said, “Yes, I have heard that he has committed suicide, but we still don’t know the reasons why he has taken the step.”
Canacona PI Filomena Costa said, “The post-mortem has been conducted and the body has been handed over to the family. There have been interactions with the family, but no reason for the suicide could be established.”
BDO Uday Prabhudessai could not be contacted as he is out of station.
Meanwhile, South Goa ZP members visited the residence of the deceased engineer and offered their condolences. It is learnt from ZP sources that Subesh was regular with his work and had been recently deputed to the Zilla Panchayat from Block Development Office, Salcete.
