Surat
Mangilal Suthar
Surat: Police have booked a Godadara resident for allegedly abetting the suicide of a renovation contractor who jumped to his death from the terrace of a residential building in the City Light area on Sunday evening.The deceased, Mangilal Suthar, was carrying out renovation work in a flat in Nav Mangal Society. Police said Suthar allegedly took the extreme step after being subjected to continuous harassment and threats by Rakesh Sharma, who assigned him the renovation contract.Based on a complaint lodged by Suthar’s younger brother, a case of abetment to suicide has been registered against Sharma.According to the complaint, Suthar was undertaking renovation work at the City Light flat for the past couple of months after securing the contract from Sharma.The complainant alleged that Sharma was harassing Suthar for several days. Despite demanding that the work be completed, Sharma allegedly withheld payments and pressured Suthar to continue working at the site. He is also accused of threatening to implicate him in a police case.Family members stated that the repeated threats left Suthar under severe mental stress. A few days before the incident, Suthar reportedly made a video call to Sharma and informed him that he could no longer continue the work because payments were not being released. He also objected to Sharma’s alleged threats to deduct money for work that was already completed.Police suspect that Suthar may have faced further harassment on Sunday. Later that evening, he allegedly went to the terrace of the society building and jumped, resulting in his death.Assistant commissioner of police ACP VR Malhotra said, “We have formed teams to locate Sharma. We recovered a mobile phone near the victim, but it was found in a damaged condition. The device has been sent to the FSL for examination. We will also analyse the victim’s call records to determine whom he spoke to on the day of the incident.”
