MUMBAI: Independent Member of Parliament from Dadra and Nagar Haveli Mohan Sanjibhai Delkar (58) a seven-term Lok Sabha member, allegedly died by suicide at the sea-facing Hotel Sea Green South, at Marine Drive in South Mumbai on February 22, 2021. 

Delkar, a tribal rights activist, had come to Mumbai on February 21, to attend a court hearing of one of his supporters, but hanged himself from the ceiling fan of the hotel, leaving a 15-page suicide note in Gujarati. 

In the note, he held several politicians and administrative officials responsible for 'injustice', 'insult' and 'bias' meted out to him and had specifically named Praful Khoda Patel as being responsible.

After initially registering a case of accidental death, an FIR was registered on March 09, 2021 under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation of offence in order to commit extortion) and also under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Based on the suicide note and a complaint submitted by Delkar's son Abhinav, the Mumbai police registered an offence against nine persons, including Patel, Sandeep Singh (district collector of DNH), Sharad Darade (then superintendent of police, DNH, now transferred to the Daman police headquarters), Apurva Sharma (resident deputy collector of DNH), Manasvi Jain (sub-divisional officer, police department), Manoj Patel (police inspector Silvassa), Rohit Yadav (DNH administrative department official), Fethsinh Chauhan (BJP leader) and Dilip Patel (revenue administrator of Silvassa). 

Subsequently, the then Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh directed that the matter be investigated by the Special Investigating Team (SIT). Over the past few months, the SIT has visited Dadra and Nagar Haveli several times they have reportedly not made any progress in the case and according to Delkar's family and close associates, apart from taking statements from Abhinav and a few others, the SIT team has done nothing at all.

"Although an FIR has been filed on charges of abetment to suicide, and under several stringent ST/SC acts in the mysterious death of Delkar, the police is not taking the matter seriously. Why is CM Uddhav Thackeray soft on Praful Khoda Patel?" asked a close associate of Delkar from the union territory.

In his statement, Abhinav has stated that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to stop his father from contesting elections and to get control over his college. They also demanded Rs 25 crore by threatening to implicate him in a false criminal case. "If my father had committed suicide at Silvasa, there were chances that investigation in the case would not have been proper, so he deliberately chose Mumbai to end his life," Abhinav had mentioned in his statement.

Abhinav had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the treatment meted out to him by Patel and some ministers, but his letter was completely ignored.

Patel, who had allegedly harassed Delkar, pushing him to take this drastic step is currently the Administrator of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and Union Territory of Lakshadweep is considered to be a close confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah.

Patel was the Home Minister of Gujarat when Modi was the Chief Minister of that state when in 2010, Amit Shah had resigned as the minister of state for home in Gujarat after he was arrested in connection with the allegedly staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. He continued in the position until 2012 when he lost the assembly election from Himmat Nagar.