Uttar Pradesh advocate suicide case: Seven booked under Gangsters Act

Mahoba: The stringent Gangsters Act has been invoked against seven people for abetting the suicide of an advocate who died after they tried to extort Rs 60 lakh from him, police said on Thursday. Senior advocate Mukesh Kumar Pathak (50), a resident of Samadnagar locality, had died late on Saturday night and a suicide note was recovered, police had said. The accused were booked under the Gangsters act on Wednesday and preparations are on to attach their movable and immovable properties, SHO, City Kotwali Anoop Kumar Dubey said. Among the arrested is the outgoing pramukh of Kabrai development block, Chhatrapal Yadav and his nephew Vikram Yadav. The duo was held on Sunday, they said. Five other accused — Ravi Soni, Ankit Soni, Abhay Pratap Singh, Anand Mohan Yadav and Manish Chaubey — were arrested on Monday. According to Dubey, a case of extortion and threat to kill the advocate’s son, Shivam Pathak, was registered on 7 February against Chhatrapal Yadav, Vikram Yadav, Anand Mohan Yadav, Ravi Soni, and Ankit Soni on the basis of a complaint from Mukesh Kumar Pathak. Shivam Pathak had told police that the accused had called his father on 13 February to reach a settlement in the extortion case and threatened to kill him if he did not accede to their demand. He claimed that due to the call, his father was under depression and therefore, ended his life.

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_A collection of working suicide prevention helpline numbers  are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022 2754 6669_​