Battling financial constraints post lockdown, street vendor in Puttur commits suicide
Puttur: A 63-year-old street vendor on Thursday morning committed suicide by jumping into a government well near his stall here in Puttur.
The deceased vendor has been identified as Vittal Naik a resident of Bannoru village in Puttur. He reportedly owned a stall in Padil wherein he used to sell Kabab. According to the reports, Vittal had suffered a heart attack a few days ago and had to spend lakhs of rupees for treatment. Already fighting financial constraint due to the Corona lockdown, the expense only added to his economic woes and he was under depression from several days.
Reports further added that when Vittal resumed business at his stall post lockdown relaxation he failed to get any business at the stall pushing him further into mental dilemma. This is said to be the reason behind his extreme step.
On June 18, Vittal went missing after eating dinner. His family looked for him in the nearby area but couldn’t find him. On Thursday morning, his footwear and clothes were found near the government well in Padil. His body was later pulled out of the well by a team of Fire Brigade. Vittal is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son.
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Chhattisgarh coal levy scam: Rs 4 crore assets of suspended IAS officer attached
Raipur (PTI): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has attached properties of Rs 4 crore belonging to suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, an accused in a coal levy scam, for allegedly amassing assets beyond his known sources of income, officials said.
The EOW had registered a disproportionate assets case against Vishnoi in July 2024, an official release said on Saturday.
During the investigation, the agency identified nine immovable properties, valued at around Rs 4 crore, allegedly acquired through illicit means in the names of Vishnoi’s family members and associated firms, it said.
“An application seeking attachment of these properties was filed before the Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Raipur. Following a hearing on April 17, the court ordered attachment of all such properties,” the statement said.
Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing attached the properties. The attached properties cannot be sold or transferred, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier provisionally attached five immovable properties linked to Vishnoi in connection with the coal levy scam, it added.
Proceedings are also underway in cases involving other public servants, including action taken in September last year against properties linked to Saumya Chaurasia, who was deputy secretary in the chief minister’s office during the Congress government, the statement said.
Vishnoi, a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, was first arrested in 2022 by the ED in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. He was among several accused who were granted bail last year by the Supreme Court.
The case refers to an alleged Rs 540 crore racket between July 2020 and June 2022, when an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen for every tonne of coal transported in the state.
