Image Courtesy: nenow.in
Seema Chaudhary, daughter-in-law of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Uday Bhan Singh has been booked for allegedly abetting the suicide of her employee, Aldrin Lyngdoh, a native of Meghalaya.
Aldrin Lyngdoh allegedly committed suicide after he lost his job at a sweet shop and restaurant in Agra, due to the coronavirus lockdown, The Times of India reported. A native of Shillong, Aldrin Lyngdoh was found hanging in the shop’s store-room.
Lyngdoh worked at the Shanti Sweets and Restaurant in Agra owned by BJP MLA Uday Bhan Singh’s daughter-in-law, Seema Chaudhary. In his suicide note, Lyngdoh alleged that he was discriminated against and that now, in the wake of the lockdown, he had “nowhere to go”.
On Monday night, Lyngdoh had sent out a suicide note to Delhi ADGP Robin Hibu. The note that Hibu got at midnight read, “… (the lockdown) closed all way 4me nowhere2go were I’ll go… plz help me I don’t know were 2go only 1 way I see suicide (sic).” The note also had a message written in Khasi which read, “Please help me, my Khasi brothers and sisters. Please help me by sharing this with everyone in Shillong.”
Hibu, who is also a founder of the NGO, Helping Hands, sent Lyngdoh’s note to the Meghalaya Police. The police then tried contacting him, but Lyngdoh didn’t answer. The note he had written was shared with Shillong residents and the police had started trying to locate his family. The Agra police had set out to look for Lyngdoh at 6:30 AM on Tuesday, but by the time they could reach him, he was dead.
Saurabh Dixit, ASP Agra said, “The shop was locked. We called the owner, Seema Chaudhary, and asked her to open it. Lyngdoh was found hanging by the neck in the first-floor store-room.”
Allegations
It was reported that Lyngdoh had held Seema responsible for his suicide. However, Seema said that Lyngdoh had “trespassed” on her property. Dixit informed, “She said they had shut shop because of the coronavirus scare and that Lyngdoh had been fired since he had been suffering from tuberculosis which he got when he was in jail for theft.”
Police records reveal that Lyngdoh, who went by the name Dev Thapa earlier, had been arrested for theft in Sikandra in 2018. In his note he had written that he was a “thief from Shillong” but had moved to Agra to “change his life”.
MLA Uday Bhan Singh’s media representative Manish Thapar said that Lyngdoh lost his job ‘because’ he had tuberculosis and accused him saying, “He (Lyngdoh) was not taking proper medication even after Udaybhanji intervened and sent him to SN Medical College for treatment.”
Informing the media that Lyngdoh was fired five months ago, way before Covid-19, he said, “The shop is run by my daughter-in-law and has no connection with me. He was a criminal, alcoholic and tuberculosis patient. How can anyone retain a TB patient at work amid the coronavirus scare?”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Uday Bhan Singh alleged, “He (Lyngdoh) might have been an employee previously as a waiter for a short while (but) in this time of coronavirus it is not advisable to keep just about anyone (as an employee). It appears he was a bit of a ‘sarphira’ (slightly unstable)… he also had a criminal background.”
The police are now trying to find out how Lyngdoh managed to enter the shop that had been locked for the past several days. They were also investigating all angles, including Lyngdoh’s allegation that he being asked to quit his job by Seema Chaudhary was the reason for his suicide.
Hints of racism
Robin Hibu, one of the first officers involved in the case said that Lyngdoh’s death was a tragic one. He said, “We are receiving numerous complaints about the harassment of people from the northeast every day. People should stop doing that.”
Current developments
Lakhmen Rymbui, Home Minister of Meghalaya said that Lyngdoh’s body would be brought back to Meghalaya from UP only after lockdown, reported DD Shillong. He also said that the government would look into the possibility of paying ex-gratia to the family after looking into the matter.
Agra SSP Babloo Kumar said that Seema Chaudhary has been booked in the matter. He said, “Aldrin’s GPS records showed he had been at the restaurant for the past several months, contrary to Seema Chaudhary’s claim that he had trespassed on the property.”
On the basis of this, the Agra Police has lodged an FIR under Section 306 of the IPC (abettment of suicide).
Related: