Charudatta Deshpande suicide: Note throws fresh light on the case

A handwritten letter by Charudatta Deshpande 57 former Corporate Affairs and Communications chief at Tata Steel who committed suicide by hanging himself in his Vasai home on June 28 last year has thrown light on why Deshpande may have taken the extreme step His death had triggered allegations that he may have been harassed by some of his colleagues at JamshedpurAlso read Charu said he was receiving threats phone was being tapped FriendCharudatta Deshpandersquos note dated February 5 2013 where he outlines circumstantial evidenceCharursquos letter a copy of which is with midday states that there were threats from within his department and it raises serious questions on the functioning of certain employees Now Charursquos son Gaurav 24 and his brotherinlaw Mahesh Bhatkal 52 have met State Home Minister R R Patil and expressed their dissatisfaction with the manner in which the local Vasai police have been probing the case for the last one yearAlso read What drove Charu Deshpande ex Tata Steel employee to kill himselfHis note dated May 1 2013 where he mentions reason for leavingThey also wrote a letter to Patil on May 6 2014 stating that they wanted the case under investigation from the Thane police to be transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch or State CID They have also requested Patilrsquos intervention for justice in the caseldquoIt has been almost a year since my father passed away The police investigation surrounding his untimely death remains incomplete And sadly the charges of abetment to suicide levelled against a few Tata Steel officials has not been vigorously pursuedrdquo the letter readsldquoThe police inaction is not just surprising but also worrying A number of his friends and colleagues came forward to record their depositions that added weight to the charges of abetment of suicide But the police investigation has not proceeded beyond mere tokenism No chargesheet has been filed till date No attempt has been made to seek custodial interrogation of the accused Prabhat Sharmardquo it statesMahesh Bhatkal said ldquoThe family members are upset with the fact that even after a year the police have not made any substantial headway to nail the culprits We have requested the state home minister to intervene and are hopeful that justice would be done to usrdquoComplainant upsetIndrajeet Gupta former Forbes editor who is also the main complainant in the FIR against Prabhat Sharma said ldquoThe police have completely ignored the handwritten notes from Charursquos diary that clearly points out the trying circumstances in which he was working in Jamshedpur and the harassment that he was facing from his colleagues primarily the key accused Prabhat Sharma and it has detailed notes on his observation of how Prabhat Sharma was fomenting trouble in the department and being a complete nuisancerdquoPress club chief saysGurbir Singh president Press Club Mumbai echoed similar views and said ldquoWe have raised our concerns with R R Patil on three different occasions March 15 May 3 and May 5 this year wherein we categorically expressed our dissatisfaction with the manner the police were probing the caserdquoPolice sayDSP Prashant Deshpande who is probing the case said ldquoThe investigation is in process and I am not the authority to decide on transfer of case to any agency I am just an investigating officerrdquo Asked about the progress made in the case so far he said ldquoI cannot divulge any information pertaining to ongoing proberdquo Attempts made to contact his superior Rajesh Pradhan superintendent of police Thane rural did not yield any resultDiary notesCharu had left diary notes in which he made startling revelations The investigating team has seized the diary as well as the hard disk data from his personal and official computers in Jamshedpur Charu even jotted two pages of adverse remarks on Prabhat Sharma which run into 13 points they cite flaws in Sharmarsquos working and mention that if he was transferred hersquod destroy the department before leaving