OSD to Buxar DM hangs to death, probe ordered

PATNA/BUXAR: The officer on special duty (OSD) to Buxar DM and district land acquisition officer (DLAO), Mohammad Taukir Akram (45), committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his rented accommodation at Veer Kunwar Singh Colony under the Town police station area in the district headquarters, around 120km from Patna on Sunday.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the suicide by the Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) officer, who was posted in Buxar for the past over two years.Buxar DM Arvind Kumar Verma said a report on the DLAO’s death would be sent to the state government on Monday.
Buxar Town police station SHO Dayanand Prasad said Taukir, with his wife, mother and father lived on the ground floor of the house owned by one Bhola Nath Mishra. It was his mother Nargis Khatoon, who had first seen him hanging at around 8am, he said. His wife had gone to her parents’ house in Saran district.
“A suicide note with his signature and 4.30am time has been recovered from his room. He has blamed no one for his death,” the SHO said, adding his father Haq Nawaz Sharique has also not blamed anyone in his written complaint. The suicide note read: “No one is to be held responsible. My own wish to meet death.”
The DM said Taukir had been receiving only half of his salary since August 1 last year after Patna division’s Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority (LARR) chairman B K Rai passed an order against him and deduct half of his salary. Around Rs30,000 from his salary was being deposited to the LARR through a draft every month. He also said the Patna high court on September 18 this year set aside the LARR’s order and the process was on to reinstate his full salary. “Taukir seemed completely normal when he accompanied me to Dumraon for a field visit on Saturday,” he said.
However, Taukir’s family sources alleged that some officers had been demanding hefty sum as a bribe to reinstate his full salary and that’s why it was taking so much time.
It was only on August 11 this year when the then Buxar DM, Mukesh Pandey, had committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
The SHO said Taukir was born and brought up in Patna under the guidance of his uncle Faiz Akram, a retired IAS official.