SC/ST Act invoked on accused in Maharashtra Dalit activist Arvind Bansod suicide case

Mumbai: Charges under the stringent SC/ST Act were on Tuesday slapped on three persons accused of abetting the suicide of Dalit social activist Arvind Bansod in Maharashtra last month, police said.

The owner of an LPG agency in Nagpur district and his two associates have been named accused in the case. They were earlier booked under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

On Tuesday, the Nagpur Rural police added relevant charges under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the trio, an official release said.

LPG agency owner Mithilesh alias Mayur Bandopant Umarkar and his two associates have been named accused in the case, police have said, adding no arrests have been made so far.

On Monday, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur Rural) Rakesh Ola had directed Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Katol) Nagesh Jadhav to take over investigation into the case from Assistant Police Inspector of the Jalalkheda police station, where the offence was first registered.

Bansod (32), a local Dalit activist, was a resident of Pimpaldhara village under Narkhed tehsil of Nagpur district.

On May 27, Bansod and his friend Gajanan Raut, travelling on a motorcycle, stopped near the gas agency and started clicking pictures of the outlet, an official said on Monday.

Umarkar and his friends objected to the duo taking pictures and they allegedly slapped and abused Bansod, he had said. Bansod asked Raut to go and get petrol filled in the motorbike.

Meanwhile, the social activist went to a nearby shop from where he purchased pesticides and consumed it, the official had said. When Gajanan Raut returned to the spot, he found Bansod lying on the ground. Bansod was later admitted to a hospital where he died on May 29, he had said.