Murder convict, on parole, falls off 5th floor of Mantralaya building in Mumbai, probe ordered

Mumbai: A murder case convict, who was out on parole, died after he allegedly fell off from the fifth floor of the high-security Mantralaya building- the Maharashtra government headquarters - on Thursday evening.

45-year-old Harshal Suresh Raote was immediately rushed to the St George Hospital where he was declared brought dead by the doctors who attended him.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government today ordered a probe into the incident to determine whether Raote accidentally slipped from the building or it was a suicide. 

''Police will investigate into all aspects, whether it was a suicide, murder or an accident,'' Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde said.

When we called his house, his father told us he was serving jail term in a murder case & was out on parole. If it was suicide or accident will be ascertained in investigation: Vinod Tawde, Maharashtra Min on death of man after falling off 5th floor of Mantralaya building #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/WuW8nVdOjS — ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2018

The Marine Drive Police have registered a case and probing the matter.

The police are also scanning the CCTV footage to know the motives behind the extreme step.

The police also recovered a purported suicide note in which Raote had said that he was unhappy with the jail sentence and wanted help from the state Home Department in his case.

Other identification papers recovered from him revealed that Raote was associated with an NGO and working for the Maharashtra Rajya Vidhi Seva Pradhikaran, while lodged in an Aurangabad Jail.

According to Sachin Salve, the Jail Superintendent of Paithan Open Jail, he was sentenced to 14 years in 2014 in connection with the murder of his sister-in-law in 2003.

Raote displayed exemplary conduct in prison and was out on a month-long parole, since January 10 and living in his home in Chembur here. 

He was due to return to jail as the parole period was ending on Thursday.

Several top political leaders including Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition in the Council Dhananjay Munde, senior Nationalist Congress Party leaders Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare rushed to 'Mantralaya' on learning of the incident.

The opposition leaders attacked the government for the spate of suicides in the state government headquarters and say its "an indicator of the public angst against the ruling BJP".

This is the second incident of its kind in Mantralaya this week. On Tuesday, unemployed Ahmednagar resident Avinash Shete, 32, poured kerosene on himself and attempted to set himself ablaze.

However, the security personnel intervened in time and saved him, and he has been arrested. Shete was reportedly upset at not being selected for a job in the state Agriculture Department.

Earlier on January 28, 84-year-old farmer from Dhule, Dharma Patil, who had consumed poison inside Mantralaya, died a week later while under treatment at Sir J J Hospital, triggering a huge political row in the state.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam have lashed out at the BJP government for the incident and said that the Devendra Fadnavis regime has become like the 'Blue Whale' game spurring suicides.

Nirupam, on his turn, said the Mantralaya at the Nariman Point has become a 'Suicide Point' with at least six such incidents being reported ever since the BJP came to power in October 2014.

(With IANS inputs)