AHMEDABAD: The principal of a government-run school in Bavla killed himself, allegedly, following harassment by a teacher who wanted his wife to be posted in the same shift as him. Prakash Nai, 34, died after consuming poison, mentioned an FIR filed with Bagodara police on Thursday.
Nai’s wife Nilam, a resident of Bavla, told police that her husband was appointed as principal in a school in Shiyal village in Bavla taluka of Ahmedabad district, in 2015.
“We were living happily. My husband worked with the utmost sincerity. However, in 2018, my husband began staying silent and seemed upset all the time. I asked him about his problem but he refused to say anything,” said Nilam, adding, “As his condition deteriorated further, our six-year-old son and I would talk to him for hours. One day, he told us that Tina Bharwad, a teacher at his school, worked in the morning shift while his wife, Alka, worked in the afternoon shift. Tina wanted his wife to be transferred to the morning shift. When my husband told him that it was a decision only higher authorities could make, Tina began harassing him.”
She alleged, “Tina then began threatening to kill my husband. He also threatened the family. My husband would often shiver with fear, saying he was scared that Tina would kill our child.”
Nai’s family got him to consult psychiatrists in Ahmedabad and in their hometown, Palanpur. “He would feel better and start going to school. However, Tina would threaten him and he would fall ill again. In February, my husband fell ill again after Tina threatened him. Due to this, we moved to Palanpur for a while in the first week of March. After staying there for a few days, we returned to Bavla. I told my husband that he could leave the job if he wanted. On March 21, he went back to school. This time when he returned, he took a look at our son and tears filled his eyes. He broke down and ran out of the house,” she said.
Nilam said that her husband called her after a while. Since it was unusual for him to do so, she made a video call to him and saw him crying and foaming at the mouth. She rushed to his location and took him to a private hospital in Bavla, from where he was shifted to a private hospital in Ahmedabad, where the doctors told her that he would not survive.
“My husband, who knew he would not survive, told me to leave Bavla, fearing that Tina would kill us too,” she said.
Nai died during treatment on March 23 and the family remained at home for around a month. Later, Nilam approached the police and filed a complaint of abetment to suicide against Tina.
