Youth from Dhule attempted suicide at the entrance of Mantralaya

Mantralaya

A youth hailing from Dhule in north Maharashtra on Monday attempted suicide at the entrance of Mantralaya, the latest such incident at the state secretariat building in last several months.

Baban Yashwant Zote had poured kerosene over his body and was about to set himself on fire when police nabbed him, a senior official said. Zote decided to end his life to protest alleged corruption in the recruitment process in Dhule Municipal Corporation, the official said.

The Dhule resident had written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on April 3, seeking a probe in the scheduled caste recruitment drive held in 1989 in the civic body. Zote claimed that "genuine" candidates were deprived of jobs and instead, kin of corporators were recruited through unscrupulous means, the official said.

Zote was handed over to the Marine Drive police station, the official said. In March, a 56-year-old labourer tried to end his life outside the building. Gulab Maruti Shingari, hailing from Beed district in drought-prone Marathwada region, claimed he decided to end his life as the "police patil" in his village tried to usurp his land, a police official said.

In February, a 45-year-old man committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of Mantralaya, after which the BJP-led state government set up a safety net covering the open space on the first floor of the seven-storey building.

Harshal Raote, a murder convict on parole, jumped to death from the fifth floor, days after a 32-year-old unemployed man attempted suicide outside the building.

On January 22, 84-year-old Dhule farmer Dharma Patil consumed poison in Mantralaya premises, demanding adequate compensation for his land, which had been acquired by the government for a solar power project. He died in hospital on January 28.

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