To protest against alleged harassment by the police, an elderly couple in Jhansi district consumed poison inside the office of the senior superintendent of police (SSP).
The man died in hospital on Wednesday night while the woman is still battling for life in a local hospital.
According to reports reaching here, Kailash Rajput and his wife Kesar Rajput had lodged a complaint against some influential locals in Ujjian village after the latter assaulted their son, Narendra, 30, a few weeks ago.
Since the police did not take any action on the couple’s complaint, the locals became emboldened and started harassing the couple, pressurising them to withdraw their complaint.
“My parents were deeply concerned about my safety. If we even moved out of our house, we would be accosted by the accused persons and abused. We kept requesting the police but no action was taken. It was this that drove my parents to take this drastic step,” Narendra told local reporters.
On Thursday evening, the couple went to meet senior superintendent of police Vinod Dohre who assured them of full cooperation. The couple, it seems, was not satisfied with the assurance and after meeting the SSP, both consumed the poisonous material that they had brought with them. When their condition started deteriorating, the cops realised that something was wrong.
The station house officer and sub-inspector of the area have been suspended with immediate effect for their inaction and dereliction of duty.
Kailash Rajput informed them that he and his wife had consumed poison and the couple was immediately rushed to the hospital where the husband died a few hours later.
Further investigations are on.