Mayawati seeks CBI probe into farmer's suicide

New Delhi, April 23: BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday demanded a CBI inquiry into the suicide by a farmer at an AAP rally in the national capital.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, which reconvened on Thursday for the second part of the budget session after it was prorogued on March 28, Mayawati stressed the need to ascertain that the incident was not prompted by a motive for "political gains".

"The central government should take this matter seriously. CBI should investigate and find out if the farmer was provoked into committing suicide," she demanded.

The BSP chief said the farmers, who have been reeling under the burden of losses of rabi crop caused by unseasonal rains and hailstorm, were "not receiving adequate compensation" despite several official announcements to this effect. [Farmer suicide: Who is to blame for Gajendra Singh's death?]

"What is the use of such policies if the compensation does not reach the needy on time?" she questioned and called for a central government's intervention to overhaul the process of compensation distribution.

Her statement came after a farmer from Rajasthan, whose crops were destroyed by unseasonal rain, hanged himself from a tree here during an Aam Aadmi Party rally on Wednesday, held to protest against the controversial land ordinance.

IANS