Twist in farmer suicide case

Kolhapur: The suicide case of sugarcane farmer Prakash Kore (42) took another twist on Saturday. Officials of the Kurundwad police station claimed that Kore had told the cops that his dispute with the private money lender was settled on March 18.

Kore allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison on March 21 in Shirol taluka. His son Shubham (19) on Friday said his father had filed a petition before the Kurundwad police on March 12 demanding protection from private money lenders who were harassing him.

D S Hake, inspector of the Kurundwad police station, said Kore first approached the police on March 18. "He did come here with his dispute against the money lender. However, his aunt Neela Gundkarle, brother Ramu, Satish Kore and the money also came at the same time. They discussed the issue and told us the problem has been solved. Since Prakash came to us with a written complaint, we formally took his consent that the issue has been settled," Hake said.

"As Kore himself told us the that issue was settled, we were not able to take any action against the people whom he named in the petition. He committed suicide three days later. Since then, we have arrested brother of the absconding accused. We will arrest the suspect soon," the police said.