A shocking incident emerged from Uttar Pradesh where a man killed himself after he was asked to “send his wife for one night” to a senior official in exchange for a transfer. The humiliation over the incident drove the man to take a drastic step.
45-year-old Gokul Prasad, who worked in the Uttar Pradesh power department, poured diesel over himself and set himself on fire outside of the junior engineer’s office, after accusing the latter of harassment and causing mental distress.
Prasad worked in the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) as a power lineman in the town of Lakhimpur Kheri. He was taken to a hospital in Lucknow shortly after he set himself on fire but succumbed to his major burn injuries.
Before he committed suicide, Prasad filmed a video calling out the Junior Engineer on how he had harassed him. In the video, Gokul Prasad said that the JE had asked to send his wife to him for one night in return for a transfer.
Prasad also said that he had gone to the police, but nothing had come of it. In another video, his wife claimed that the JE had been torturing Prasad for three years. She said that Prasad had slipped into depression and was taking medication for the same.
She could be heard saying in the video, “He went into depression, started taking medication, but they did not spare him. He was transferred to Aliganj and was facing difficulty in travelling. So he asked for a transfer closer home. They told him, 'get your wife to sleep with us and we will get you transferred.”
According to the police, the JE used to harass Prasad and make vulgar remarks whenever he sought help regarding his situation. A case has been registered and an inquiry has been launched to probe the suicide. A clerk and the Junior Engineer have been suspended by the company.
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