A seer died by suicide in Rajasthan's Jalore after he was allegedly pressured by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA to give way through his hermitage to the land where the legislator wanted to build a resort, according to police.
Police also recovered a suicide note from the spot but did not disclose its content.
After Ravinath (60) was found hanging from a tree at Jalore's Rajapura village on Thursday night, seers at the hermitage did not allow police to take down the body, demanding that the suicide note's content be disclosed.
Meanwhile, Bhinmal MLA Pooraram Choudhary denied the allegations and demanded a fair investigation.
Jalore SP Harshwardhan Agarwalla said they have registered an abetment of suicide case against the legislator on a complaint given by the seers.
"They have not yet taken down the body. We are trying to convince them for a post-mortem," Agarwalla said.
He admitted that a suicide note was recovered but refused to disclose its content, saying it may impact the investigation.
The SP said they have got information on Friday morning that Ravinath was found hanging from a tree in Rajapura.
The seers there blamed the Bhinmal MLA for the suicide and claimed that the legislator had been harassing the victim for the past some time. Police said Choudhary has a piece of land adjacent to the hermitage and he was preparing to build a resort there.
"But to reach his land, he needed through the hermitage, for which Choudhary had been forcing Ravinath to provide him land for it," said an official.
Choudhary junked the allegations and said he himself has surrendered land for the hermitage of Ravinath.
"The allegations are false. I have on the contrary surrendered my land for the hermitage. I urge for a fair investigation into the matter. This appears to me a case of murder and Ravinath must get justice," said Choudhary.
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