JUNAGADH: A man, who was allegedly involved in an illegal lion show case in Gujarat, hanged himself to death in Junagadh district of the state hours before he was to surrender in prison at the end of his parole, police said on Sunday.
The incident took place on Saturday in Mendarda town of the district, they said.
Lalji Jakhiya (36) was among five persons arrested by the forest department on the basis of a viral video of the show that had gone viral in November last year. In the video, a lion was seen killing an ox tied to a pole before feasting on the carcass as onlookers watched the killing from a distance, with some of them even recording the happening on their mobile phones.
Jakhiya, who was sent to a jail in Junagadh in connection with the case, was later released on parole. He was scheduled to surrender before the jail authorities on Saturday when he committed suicide at a farm in Mendarda, police said.
"He was scheduled to surrender before the jail authorities on Saturday after being out on parole. In the afternoon, he hanged himself from the ceiling at a farm house, where he worked as a caretaker," an official of Mendarda police station said.
His family members claimed that he took the extreme step due to the mental torture by the forest department officials, who they said, falsely framed him in the case. They thronged the hospital at Mendarda, where his body was taken for post-mortem, and demanded "justice" for the deceased.
The forest department had lodged an FIR against a total of 12 persons after the video of the illegal show went viral on social media. The department said that the accused persons had helped the main accused in organising the show at his farm house at a village in Devaliya range of Gir forest in November last year.
