MP bizman-wife suicide: Note claims harassment by ED, BJP leaders; Congress steps up attack

PTI, Dec 15, 2024, 8:49 AM IST

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Bhopal/Indore: The Congress on Saturday sharpened its attack on BJP after the recovery of a purported suicide note left behind by a couple in Madhya Pradesh accusing the ED and ruling party members of harassment.

State minister Prahlad Singh Patel rejected the allegations and asked the opposition party to stay away from its “conspiracies”.

In the purported suicide note that surfaced on social media, businessman Manoj Parmar alleged that he was being harassed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and BJP leaders. Parmar and his wife Neha were found hanging at their home in Ashta town of Sehore district on Friday morning.

Calling the deaths “state-sponsored murders”, the Congress has claimed that Parmar and his wife were targeted for supporting it. The couple’s children had gifted their piggy bank to Rahul Gandhi during his foot march ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, said Congress leaders.

Sub-divisional officer of police Akash Amalkar said the suicide note received by the police was in the form of an application. He said the family members of the deceased couple were still in mourning, so the police have not recorded their statements.

The suicide note is addressed to the President of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha.

In the note, Parmar urged Gandhi and other Congress leaders to take care of his children.

During the day, MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari visited the couple’s children – two sons and a daughter – at their home in Ashta and made them talk to Gandhi over the phone.

Parmar’s elder son told the senior Congress leader that his father chose to take his life instead of succumbing to ED’s pressure to “get them (the children) to join the BJP”.

In a post on X, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath referred to the suicide note to make similar allegations. Parmar’s only crime was that his children gifted Gandhi a piggy bank, he said.

The case is more about wiping out an entire family than harassing a businessman to the point of suicide for political reasons, Nath said and urged Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to ensure strict action against all those involved.

State minister Prahlad Singh Patel rubbished the allegations that the ED and his party leaders harassed the couple.

“Congress’ allegations are entirely wrong. We are not afraid of any investigation, but it would be good if the Congress stays away from its conspiracies.” He said the Mohan Yadav government in MP has taken major steps in the interest of the poor, women, farmers and youth over the past year keeping “heritage and development” as its priorities.

According to ED, its Bhopal zonal official had carried out searches on December 5 at four premises in Sehore and Indore districts in connection with the matter of Parmar and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The search covered the residential premises of the key persons who were the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime or had actively aided or abetted such persons in a bank fraud case, the ED has said in a statement, claiming to have recovered incriminating documents.

As per the ED’s statement, the agency launched an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Parmar and a senior branch manager of PNB.

The ED has alleged that loans worth nearly Rs 6 crore were availed under the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme and Chief Minister Yuva Udyami Yojana. However, the funds were diverted to proprietorship concerns or firms and were subsequently withdrawn in cash for investment in properties.