Thane builder suicide: Fadnavis orders police to conduct thorough probe

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday directed the Thane Police to take strict action in the suicide case of builder Suraj Parmar, whose death sparked nationwide protests by realty developers.

Devendra Fadnavis asked the Thane CP to take stern action and carry out a thorough investigation and register a case against the culprits in connection with this case (alleged suicide of Parmar), a release from Chief Minister's Officer said.

"The CM also directed that his kin should not be troubled during the course of investigation," it said.

A delegation of real estate developers body CREDAI met Fadnavis demanding strict action against the guilty.

Nearly 11,500 builders affiliated to CREDAI and thousands of individuals from the construction industry today participated in the protest call of the real estate apex body against the "corrupt" and "inefficient" government system.

Peace marches were taken out by various city chapters of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI) across the country, while all builders shut activities at their construction sites as a mark of respect and solidarity to Parmar, the MCHI Thane president.

Over 7,000 individuals including developers and others related to the construction industry participated in a peace march in neighbouring Thane city.

"The developers walked against the corrupt and inefficient government system to bring justice to Parmar and ensure that necessary steps are taken by the government to stop corruption and bring ease of doing business. Besides this, operations at sites came to a standstill," CREDAI said in a statement.

MCHI-CREDAI, the Maharashtra chapter of CREDAI, said that they were conducting the march to protest against the corrupt system and ensure that necessary steps are taken by the government to stop corruption and bring about ease of doing business.

The builders carried banners that read ‘Justice for Suraj Parmar'.

The developers marched up to Thane Municipal Corporation where a letter was handed over to the (municipal) commissioner requesting authorities to look into Parmar's suicide, it said.

CREDAI further said an appeal was also made to resolve indictment of the system and highlight issues such as endemic delays in getting approvals, deliberate delays in implementing government policy, among others.

On October 7, Parmar, CMD of the Cosmos Group allegedly committed suicide as he was fed up of alleged harassment from various government departments and their repeated demands for bribes.

CREDAI Western UP unit also organised a peace march in Noida Sec-63 where over 100 developers participated and handed over a memorandum to the Uttar Pradesh government.

In Nashik also, CREDAI members shut the work and closed their offices.

(With PTI inputs)