The two Santal farmers in Rajshahi’s Godagari who killed themselves after consuming poison, committed suicide because the now suspended tube-well operator Shakhawat Hossain refused to provide them with irrigation water, according to a probe carried out by the police.
The police report was made in separate chargesheets related to two cases filed over the abetting of suicide of the two farmers.
On March 23, Rabi Mardi, 27, and his cousin Abhinath Mardi, 36, consumed poison while standing beside the deep tube well in Ishwaripur village after not getting irrigation water for their land.
Investigating Officer (IO) Mahfuzur Rahman, sub-inspector (SI) of Godagari police station, said the chargesheet in the case of Abhinath’s death was submitted to the Godagari Amli court on April 27. A chargesheet relating to a case of incitement to suicide of Rabi was submitted on April 29 after investigation.
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Shakhawat used to harass farmers when they came to him for irrigation water, he told Dhaka Tribune.
Following their deaths, two separate cases of instigating the suicides were filed by the families of the two men.
The court has already accepted the charge sheets submitted by the police, said SI Mahfuzur Rahman.
Shakhawat, who is also the ward unit president of Krishak League, the ruling party’s peasant wing, has been accused of providing water to only those he had close relations with.
After Shakhawat was accused of abetting the suicides, the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) suspended him following his arrest on April 3.