Woman blames school for husband’s suicide

Tribune News Service
Mohali, March 26

A week after a man was found hanging in a house at Chachumajra village in Sohana, his widow has accused the management of Delhi Public School, Sector 40, Chandigarh, of forcing him to commit suicide.

On March 20, the body of Jagjit Singh, 36, was found hanging in a house opposite to their house by his wife Harinder Kaur when she went to serve him morning tea.

Talking to the mediapersons here today, Harinder Kaur alleged that her husband had committed suicide after the school management decided to terminate his services of supplying buses to the school.

Harinder claimed that her husband had recorded a video before committing suicide in which he had given the reason for taking the extreme step. She claimed that she had handed over the video of Jagjit Singh blaming the school management for his death to the local police.

She alleged that Jagjit had been running a transportation company, Guru Kirpa, and was supplying buses to the school since 2011. At present, eight of his buses were being used by the school.

Harinder claimed that it was at the insistence of the school management that Jagjit had leased another bus about two months ago. He had also taken a loan of Rs 38 lakh for the purpose.

She said the school management committee had terminated Jagjit’s services abruptly without intimating him. A few days before this, the school had purchased eight new buses.

Harinder alleged that on March 19, Jagjit was called by a member of the management board after which he was very tense and the same night he committed suicide.

According to the police, Harinder had also claimed that Jagjit had earlier owned a tractor agency in Ropar, but later he closed it down. She said he was under depression as he was under debt.

Initially, the police had initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Crpc. Inspector Daljeet Singh, Station House Officer at the Sohana Police Station, said the family had approached the police seeking an investigation into the matter and they would pursue the case.

Meanwhile, Delhi Public School Principal Rema Dewan’s said: “The allegation that the school withdrew the buses of the transporter (the victim) is false and baseless. He refused to renew the agreement to run the buses on the existing routes and put the school management to extreme stress. The family’s false statement comes both as a shock and surprise for the school authorities”.

Principal’s take

Delhi Public School Principal Rema Dewan’s said: “The allegation that the school withdrew the buses of the transporter (the victim) is false and baseless. He refused to renew the agreement to run the buses on the existing routes and put the school management to extreme stress. The family’s false statement comes both as a shock and surprise for the school authorities.”