Accused of abusing partner's daughter, man ends life

BANGALORE: Depressed after his live-in companion filed a police complaint accusing him of sexually abusing her daughter, a 38-year-old roadside hawker allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the premises of an Urdu school in Kalasipalya late on Monday night.
The deceased was identified as Shahanawaz Khan, resident of Urdu colony in Kalasipalya.Khan had eked out a living by selling non-leather jerkins on KR Market pavements for the past 15 years.
Earlier last week, Reshma Banu, his live-in companion, approached Kalasipalya police, alleging that Khan was misbehaving with her 14-year-old daughter.
"She refused to give the complaint in writing. But we summoned Khan to the station and warned him of legal consequences," Kalasipalya police said. Later it turned out that the complaint was false and medical tests on the girl proved negative, they added.
However, family members and elders counselled Khan against misbehaving with the girl. "Khan protested his innocence but no one paid attention to it," said Tabrez, Khan's relative.
On Monday night, Khan returned home after hawking around 9 pm and had dinner. "Reshma was with her neighbour when he went out," Central police, in whose jurisdiction Khan committed suicide, said.
Passersby early on Tuesday morning found Khan's body hanging from a tree in the Urdu school premises.
Police sources said Reshma had two daughters from her first marriage. She had separated from her husband and began living with Khan along with her daughters.
Police sources said that differences had cropped up recently between the two and Reshma complained to the Kalasipalya police that Khan was sexually abusing her 14-year-old daughter.
Worker drowns in sump
A 55-year-old construction worker allegedly drowned in a sump in a private resort near Rajanukunte on the Bangalore-Doddaballapur highway on Tuesday.
The deceased Arasaiah was a resident of Heggadenagar near Hebbal. The incident took place when Arasaiah along with a few colleagues, was doing construction job inside the private resort. "He had gone to draw water from the huge sump and seems to have accidentally slipped into the water. He drowned immediately," Rajanukunte police said.