With about a year to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP MP from Junagadh, Rajesh Chudasama, seems to be caught at the centre of a storm amid growing demands for lodging an FIR against him in the alleged suicide of a prominent physician in Veraval. In his purported “suicide note”, Dr Atul Chag allegedly blamed the MP and his father Naran Chudasama for his extreme step.
Dr Chag belonged to the upper caste Lohana community, whose members in various parts of the state, including Surat, Junagadh, Gir Somnath and Rajkot, have submitted memorandums to government officers, demanding the registration of an FIR and the launch of a probe against those named in his suicide note.
On February 12, Chag, who had a hospital in Veraval town in Gir Somnath district, was found hanging by a muffler tied to a ceiling fan at his residence in the same hospital building.
Five days later, the deceased’s son Hitarth filed a complaint with the Veraval police station, stating that his father died by suicide as Rajesh and Naran had not been returning about Rs 1.75 crore, which Chag had lent them since 2008, and were instead threatening him of “dire consequences” if he demanded the money back.
On the basis of Hitarth’s complaint, the Gir Somnath police have started a primary inquiry.
The BJP MP’s father claimed that their names were being dragged in the case “for political reasons”, even though he admitted that his family had close ties with Chag since 1995.
Rajesh has been facing the heat in the Chag case. Two days after the doctor’s death, Rajya Sabha MP and the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) director (corporate affairs), Parimal Nathwani, who also belongs to the Lohana community, tweeted, “Suicide & the suicidal note by Dr Atul Chag has not only left the family grief-stricken but also in profound fear! Hope the #Police deals with the family in humility & brings out the truth without heeding to any pressure,” tagging the minister of state for home, Harsh Sanghvi, inspector general of police, Junagadh range and the SPs of Gir Somnath and Junagadh.
The word doing the rounds in the Junagadh political circles now is that Nathwani’s public statement marks a shift in political equations for Rajesh in the constituency, which comprises Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts.
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