Kolkata: Two men, Mukund Agarwal and Sanjay Srimani, were arrested on Thursday on charges of abetment to suicide of their colleague, Aditya Srivastava (40), who died after falling from a high-rise in Rajarhat on Sept 19. Police are on the lookout for a third colleague. Agarwal and Srimani, in turn, accused Srivastava of embezzling money, said a Bidhannagar Commissionerate officer.
Srivastava, an accountant at a company in Sector V, Salt Lake, reportedly fell from the balcony of his eighth-floor flat in a residential complex near Rajarhat Chowmatha. Though cops said it was a suicide, the family of the deceased insisted Agarwal and Srimani pushed him off the building, resulting in his death. Srivastava’s father, Dilip said, “There were attempts to involve my son in illegal transactions at his workplace against his will. Under mental pressure, he considered resigning from his job and did not go to work for a few days. On Sept 19, three of his colleagues visited our home. They spoke in a closed room and we could hear them shouting occasionally. During that time, they pushed him off (the balcony).” Countering the suicide angle, the father claimed, “When my son made to jump over a 4.5-ft-high balcony railing, why didn’t the colleagues stop him? I am certain he was pushed.”
Police maintained Srivastava jumped off the balcony himself. An officer said, “The arrested accused said Srivastava had diverted Rs 5 lakh from the company’s account. The two accepted they had pressured him for the money without alerting police, which led to his suicide.”
The complex ground, where the body was found, has been cordoned off and cops are awaiting forensic report.