Mysore: IAS officer heckled by family members of dead ATI employee

Mysore, Oct 16: An

officer Rashmi V Mahesh was heckled by the family members of a contractual ATI employee who had committed suicide in a sump. The Director General of the Administrative wing of the ATI, Mahesh was held responsible for the death as the relatives suggest that the victim took this extreme step after she had issued notice to all contractual employees.

Also the Regional Commissioner of Police, Rashmi had issued notice to all the contractual employees in the ATI stating that their contracts will not be renewed. In a press statement, she justified her move saying that some of these contractual employees were on extension that was issued by the previous DG for some vested interest.

Relating the incident that took place on Wednesday, Parashivamurthy, a security guard at ATI, said that he saw 53 year olf Venkatesh coming to the office premises at 6 am. At around 8 am, he was seen moving toward the sump. When he did not return for several hours, the guard grew suspicious. When he probed, he found Venkatesh's sleepers floating in the sump.

Soon, the police and fire safetymen were called to the spot who pulled his body out after the sump was emptied. It was sent to K R Hospital for autopsy.

When Venkatesh's body arrived at the ATI premises at 3 pm, Rashmi went to pay her last respects but was not allowed to do so. Instead, she was slapped and assaulted by the victim's relatives. Some also pelted stones on her. One was trying to hit her with a slipper when the security personnel shielded her. Police personnel from the Nazarabad police station arrived at the spot and handled the situation.

Ironically, Rashmi is reported to have lodged a complaint with the police after she started getting threat calls. Though a tense situation had prevailed on the ATI premises following the employee's death, enough police personnel were not deputed," she said.

Manjula, the wife of Venkatesh said that her husband was a victim of differences between the former ATI DG Amita Prasad and Rashmi.

Awaiting the autopsy report of the person, the Nazarabad police has registered a case of unnatural report as it was unlikely for a person to slip in a 2.5 feet to 2.5 feet sump. However, no suicide note has been found.

OneIndia News