Hyderabad man dies by suicide amid fear of deletion in SIR

Hyderabad: A 51 year old cab driver, Sheikh Mujbil Rehman, died by suicide early Sunday, allegedly driven by fear that his name would be deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Family members said Rehman, who had two children with intellectual disabilities, was under severe stress after discovering his name missing from the 2002 voter list and finding inconsistencies in identity documents, including different spellings and conflicting dates of birth.

Relatives said Rehman had spent about Rs.1.5 lakh trying to correct the records and had been visiting offices for the past month. His nephew, Imam, showed copies of documents that Rehman had prepared. The family said he feared deletion could jeopardise his children’s pensions and the household’s welfare benefits.

Rehman, originally from Karnataka, lived in Bharat Nagar, Borabanda, with his wife and three children. According to his wife, he was tense in the days before his death; their son discovered him around 4.30 a.m. Police have registered a case and opened an investigation.

Door to door enumeration under SIR began in Telangana on June 25; Booth Level Officers had distributed 1,43,17,635 forms by June 28, covering about 42.33 per cent of voters.

(Inputs from IANS)