Bathinda: A day after a 32-year-old trader allegedly died by suicide, Bathinda police on Saturday arrested a woman working as a reader to a judge in the district courts and her husband for criminal conspiracy and abetment of suicide. Police have also initiated an inquiry into the role of Bathinda City-1 DSP, who was named by the trader in a video recorded before taking the extreme step.The arrests followed protests by the victim’s relatives outside Bathinda civil hospital late on Friday, during which they blocked the road for some time seeking action.The trader, Sandeep Kumar, ran a cement and building material shop in the city. Before his death on Friday, he recorded and uploaded a video on social media, in which he named Raman Jain, his wife Renu Bala, their relative advocate Charanpal Brar, DSP Amritpal Singh Bhaati and the DSP’s reader, holding them responsible for his decision. He also left behind a suicide note seeking action against those named.In the video, Sandeep said he had supplied building material for the construction of Raman Jain’s house and had accepted payments totalling over Rs 8 lakh via Google Pay into his wife’s bank account instead of the shop’s account — an error he said led to mounting problems. Sandeep’s brother Manish Kumar said the trader had been under stress for over a month. “He told me only on Friday about the harassment he was facing. Raman Jain, Renu Bala and their relative Charanpal were allegedly pressuring him to return the money credited to his wife’s account. He even filed a complaint with the office of DSP. He alleged that staff there also harassed him and started demanding money, which pushed him to take the extreme step,” Manish said.Bathinda SP City Narinder Singh said a case under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at Kotwali police station and two persons have been arrested. Allegations made against the DSP in the suicide note are being investigated, the SP added.Pic caption: Family members of Sandeep protest outside Bathinda civil hospital.
