The Gujarat police have filed a first information report (FIR) against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) Rajesh Chudasma and his father Naran Chudasama on charges of abetment to suicide of physician Dr Atul Chag in Gir Somnath district, more than 90 days after the incident.
As per the complaint lodged by Chag’s son Hitarth Chag at Veraval police station, his father had lent about ₹1.5 crore to ₹1.75 crore to Naran Chudasama who wanted it for his business. On being asked to return the money, Chudasama and his son refused to do so and had threatened to kill the complainant and his father, as per the complaint. The FIR is filed under IPC Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed).Dr Chag, 59, who is also a philanthropist in the coastal town of Veraval, was found hanging at his residence with a suicide note beside him on February 12.
On February 17, Hitarth lodged a complaint with Veraval police, demanding that the MP and his father be held accountable for his father’s suicide. As the police did not immediately register an FIR against the MP and his father based on Hitarth’s application, he approached the Gujarat high court in March.In his plea he alleged that police had acted in contempt of the Supreme Court’s Lalita Kumari judgment by refusing to lodge an FIR in the case. The SC judgment lays guidelines for registering FIRs in cognizable offences and prescribes a time-bound inquiry for non-cognizable ones.