Documents 'altered' after farmer’s suicide, say relatives

Kozhikode: The Chembanodu village office has accepted the land tax of Kavilpurayidathil Joy, the farmer who committed suicide in front of the office on Wednesday night.

Joy, 57 had hanged himself to death after the officials refused to accept his land tax payments despite several attempts over the last eighteen months.

Following a huge public outcry over the incident, district collector U V Jose had suspended village assistant Sirish Thursday for dereliction of duty.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the deceased farmer staged a protest in front of the village office on Friday, alleging that the staff have tampered with the documents related to the land after his death. The relatives demanded documents to be produced before them.

The relatives said they noticed some ‘corrections’ being made in the register kept in the village office. Joy possessed 1 acre of land. However, it was marked as 80 cents in the register. They also noticed some corrections made in the previous documents related to Joy’s land.

Revenue officials from various places have been reported to have declined to accept land tax from farmers, citing various technical issues.

State Power Minister M.M. Mani, who arrived at the residence of Joy on Thursday, said that he has spoken to the district collector. Mani assured justice to Joy's family. "The state cabinet will take a compassionate approach in this case and will do the needful," Mani told the media here.