Shrikant Khandalkar, the lawyer who helped expose irrigation scam, found dead in Nagpur court

Even as the investigation into an alleged multi-crore irrigation scam in Maharashtra drags on, the death of a lawyer who was involved in uncovering the controversy has come to light. The Times of India has reported that the lawyer, Shrikant Khandalkar, was found on Sunday with his face smashed and other injuries in the premises of the district court in Nagpur. A suicide note in his handwriting was found in his pocket, The Times of India quoted police sources as saying. [caption id=“attachment_2528246” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nagpur district court. Image courtesy: ecourts.gov.in[/caption] Nagpur-based newspaper The Hitavada has reported that according to the police, Khandalkar was alive but unconscious when he was found in the court premises and died nearly two-and-a-half hours later, after he was taken to a hospital. While the report quoted a police officer as saying that prima facie, it did not appear to be a homicide, the police is now said to be investigating the death from this angle. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked top officials to personally supervise the investigations, according to the report. According to The Times of India, Khandalkar had been behind several public interest litigations, including a petition on irregularities in the irrigation sector in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, and alleged irregularities in Nagpur’s civic body. Khandalkar had developed an enmity with several persons because of the petitions which he had filed in court, according to the Marathi newspaper Loksatta. According to the report, some people had visited him days before the incident, during which some monetary transaction took place. He was said to have been under some stress in the days before his death. However, the lawyer said in his suicide note that the reason for his taking the extreme step was a serious ailment from which he was suffering, according to The Times of India report. In August this year, the first FIR into alleged irregularities in the irrigation sector in Maharashtra was filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau . The FIR referred to an irrigation project in the Konkan region in western Maharashtra. However, after the investigating officials failed to file a chargesheet in the stipulated 90-day time, chief minister Fadnavis directed that show-cause notices should be issued against officers of the ACB, The Indian Express reported.