27-year-old man hangs self in hotel room

Kanpur: A 27-year-old man died by suicide in Kanpur on Thursday night, allegedly distressed over gambling debts, after he booked a room at a hotel in Kalyanpur and hanged himself from the ceiling fan.Hotel staff grew suspicious when no sound came from the room until late at night. Police received information, broke down the door and found the body.The deceased was identified as Prashant Dixit (27), a resident of Maswanpur Sarai under Rawatpur police station. He worked in a private job. He is survived by his mother Archana Dixit, wife Anshika Dixit, and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Bhavya.The deceased’s brother-in-law Deep Agnihotri stated that Prashant worked at Tata Company. He said that on Thursday morning, Prashant left home as usual, saying he was going to the office. Family members called him several times throughout the day, but he did not receive any calls. He also stated that two days ago, a neighbour had threatened to kill him.Prashant’s friend worked at Hotel Raas Plaza in Kalyanpur, where Prashant checked into a room at 10am on Thursday. At around 8pm on Thursday, a hotel employee informed the owner Aditya that his friend Prashant had neither stepped out since morning nor was any sound coming from the room. Employees knocked on the door several times but received no response from inside. The hotel owner arrived at the scene upon being informed and knocked on the door for a long time. When a call was made on Prashant’s mobile phone, it was found switched off. The hotel owner then informed police by dialling 112.Police from Kalyanpur police station and a forensic team reached the spot. When police broke open the door of room number 302, Prashant’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a bedsheet. Police then informed the family members, who reached the hotel.Deep Agnihotri alleged that some people from the area used to harass Prashant. He alleged that some youths would make him participate in gambling and were continuously demanding money from him after he lost. He stated that two days ago, a youth from the neighbourhood had also threatened to kill Prashant, and that Prashant was deeply troubled by this.The mother submitted an application at Kalyanpur police station. She alleged that Irshad, Shalu, Arun Gupta and Pradeep, all residents of Maswanpur, had been taking her son out of the house on some pretext every morning for several days. They were pressuring him to gamble. On Thursday morning too, Prashant had gone at the behest of these people. The mother said, "I am certain that my son took his life due to harassment by these people and illegal extortion of money. These people are gamblers and gambling is their primary profession.”Kalyanpur police station in-charge Santosh Kumar Singh said that police have taken possession of the body and sent it for post-mortem. He said that family members have accused certain individuals of harassment.