Body Found On Railway Track In Pune, Cops Probing Maratha Protest Link

Police today found the mutilated body of a man near a railway track in Pune, along with a note in which he had purportedly written that he would commit suicide if the Maharashtra government does not grant reservation to the Maratha community by August 5.

The station master of Daundaj railway station informed the Jejuri police at around 6 am about a body lying close to the tracks, a police official said.

The dead man was identified as Dattatray Tukaram Shinde, a resident of village Pingori in Pune's Purandar tehsil. He worked as a driver with a private travel firm in Shirur, the police said.

A note was found near the body, apparently written by Shinde, in which he said he would commit suicide by jumping into a river if the Maratha community does not get reservation by August 5, Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil said.

"We are investigating whether it is a case of suicide or he was run over by a train," he said.

In another incident, the police in Wakad detained nine people, who threatened to commit suicide in support of the Maratha reservation demand, as a preventive measure.

They are members of Maratha groups Sambhaji Brigade and Chhava Sanghatana and had threatened to commit suicide on Saturday by jumping off the Pune Collectorate building, a police official said.

They also demanded that the state government pays Rs 50 lakh as compensation to the family of Kakasaheb Shinde (27).

A Maratha community member, Shinde jumped to his death in Godavari river in Aurangabad district on July 23.

The politically influential Maratha community, which constitutes around 30 per cent of the state's population, has been agitating for reservation in jobs and education sector.