Man’s Body Found in Pune, Note Says He Wanted Maratha Reservation

The police are investigating whether the man, found on the railway tracks, killed himself or was run over.

The man was found dead near a railway track in Pune along with a note.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

The police on Friday, 3 August, found the mutilated body of a man near a railway track in Pune along with a note in which he had purportedly written that he would kill himself if the Maharashtra government does not grant reservation to the Maratha community by 5 August.

The station master of Daundaj railway station informed the Jejuri police at around 6 am about a body lying close to the tracks, a police official said.

The deceased was identified as Dattatray Tukaram Shinde, a resident of village Pingori in Pune's Purandar tehsil. He worked as a driver with a private travel firm in Shirur, the police said.

A note was found near the body, apparently written by Shinde, in which he said he would kill himself by jumping into a river if the Maratha community does not get reservation by 5 August, Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil said.

"We are investigating whether it is a case of suicide or he was run over by a train," he said.

In another incident, the police in Wakad detained nine people, who threatened to kill themselves in support of the Maratha reservation demand, as a preventive measure.

They are members of Maratha groups Sambhaji Brigade and Chhava Sanghatana and had threatened to kill themselves on Saturday, 4 August, by jumping off the Pune Collectorate building, a police official said.

They also demanded that the state government pays Rs 50 lakh as compensation to the family of Kakasaheb Shinde (27).

A Maratha community member, Shinde jumped to his death in Godavari river in Aurangabad district on 23 July.

The politically influential Maratha community, which constitutes around 30 percent of the state's population, has been agitating for reservation in jobs and education sector.