Bangalore: The rampant corruption in the flagship scheme of the previous UPA government MNREGA has claimed the life of a young engineer in Karnataka. Suresh, a 24-year-old civil engineer who was working with the MNREGA scheme has allegedly committed suicide by immolating himself. According to his father Mariswamy Shetty, Suresh was fed up with the corruption in the rural employment guarantee scheme and had refused to create and clear fake bills.
He was working at Kagalavadi village in Chamarajanagara district about 150 KM from the state capital Bangalore. His parents allege that local gram panchayat chairman Sardar, his wife Saroja and local Project Development Officer (PDO) Vairamudi were putting a lot of pressure on him to clear fake bills. Suresh had refused to create fake bills and rejected their offer of sharing the bribe money.
Fed up with the rampant corruption and no help from his higher ups, Suresh poured kerosene over his body and lit himself. He was rushed to a local hospital with 90 per cent burn injuries and died there.
He was a temporary employee and had joined the job just eight months ago.