Ahmedabad, Sep 15 (IANS) A 39-year-old migrant worker who approached police at Ahmedabad’s Asarwa railway station seeking help after being unable to return to his native Uttar Pradesh was found hanging inside an electric room at the Shaherkotda police station on Tuesday morning, hours after he was brought to the station.

The man, identified as Raju Jatav, a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh, had called the police control room at around 3:48 a.m. on September 14.

“A PCR-35 van from Shaherkotda police station was sent to the location after receiving a message that a person was being harassed,” officials said.

Police said Jatav told the PCR personnel that he had been removed from his job but was unable to provide a clear account of the issue.

He was subsequently brought to the police station at his request. During questioning, Jatav said he had been working as a labourer at Moti Khavdi in Jamnagar for around three months.

He had left to return to his native place in Uttar Pradesh and had got down at Asarwa railway station before contacting the police. Police said Jatav appeared to be under considerable stress.

He was counselled and was allowed to speak to a relative over his mobile phone. During the conversation, he said he needed money to travel to Uttar Pradesh and his relative told him that money would be transferred online in the morning.

As it was raining and Jatav did not have a place to stay at the time, he told police that he wanted to remain at the station until the money arrived and then take a morning train to his native place.

He was seated in the waiting area. Police said he did not disclose the specific reason for his distress and stated that he did not want any action to be taken at that point.

An entry was subsequently made in the station diary.

DCP (Zone-3) Rupal Solanki told IANS that Jatav was not in police custody and had not been detained in connection with any offence. “He was also a little disturbed. We brought him to the police station because he wanted to react to something, he had some issue,” Solanki said.

She said Jatav had told police that he wanted to go to Uttar Pradesh and had contacted his family, who assured him that money would be sent in the morning.

“He then requested the police that he be allowed to stay there until morning. So he went downstairs to the ground floor and slept,” she said.

Police said that after the officer on duty completed the shift, at around 8:30 a.m., the door of the electric room was found locked from inside.

Attempts to open it and repeated knocking received no response. Police then looked through a slightly open window and found Jatav hanging from a fan.

Solanki said he had used the trousers he was wearing to hang himself. Police have registered an accidental death case at Shaherkotda police station under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

An inquest panchnama was conducted in the presence of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, while a forensic post-mortem examination was carried out by a panel of doctors with videography.

Police are yet to establish the reason for Jatav’s distress. His brother is expected to arrive from Delhi, after which investigators hope to gather more information about his circumstances.

Police also said they were yet to establish exactly what work Jatav had been doing in Jamnagar.

–IANS

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