Harassed, van driver dies by suicide in EG

Rajahmundry: A

van driver

hung himself to death due to alleged harassment of the van owner at Komarada village under Mamidikuduru mandal in

East Godavari

district on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Dasari Bhanu Prakash, a resident of Konkapalli village.

According to the complaint filed by Bhanu Prakash’s family, Prakash used to drive the van belonging to one Durga Prasad and would keep his bike at Prasad’s house.

A few days ago, Bhanu Prakash was returning loaded from Kurnool when he was fined Rs 30,000 for the van being overloaded. When he returned, the van owner allegedly said that he would get his bike back only if Prakash paid him the fine.

Overwhelmed at the incident, Bhanu Prakash killed himself. He was found hanging dead at his house on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking on TOI, the Amalapuram DSP said that Bhanu Prakash’s family did not want to lodge a complaint initially but came forward to file a complaint on Sunday night after they had apparently gone through Prakash’s call recordings.

Police further said that Bhanu Prakash had deleted all his WhatsApp chats from his phone and had kept it unlocked with call recordings.

A case has been booked against the van owner, Durga Prasad, under section 306 and the SC/ST Atrocities Act. Police added that they are probing the case in all its aspects.