A fight between cousins after the death of their fathers seems to have distressed Roopesh, a farmer from Chikkaballapur to such an extent that he collapsed of a heart attack and later died.
The forty-year-old Roopesh was farming the 33 guntas (3/4 of an acre) of land, he got from his father. The land was brought by his father Siddarajappa from his brother Nagarajappa, 33 years ago. However, the khata was not changed and it was still in the name of Nagarajappa.
Problems began last year after both Nagarajappa and Siddarajappa died within a short period of time.
Roopesh continued farming in the land. In some time Nagarajappa’s sons - Rudresh and Rajashekhar, claimed ownership of the land and asked Roopesh to vacate it.
Roopesh’s family members allege that Nagarajappa’s sons were supported by the local sub inspector of police, Manjunath, and a local Congress leader, Nugthalli Ravi.
During the dispute, Manjunath summoned Roopesh to the police station and allegedly threatened him with cases if he did not vacate the land.
Just after this meeting, Roopesh had a cardiac arrest as he was leaving the police station.
Roopesh died on the way to the hospital and was declared dead at the MS Ramaiah hospital in Bengaluru.
This is the third death of this kind in the taluk in the past four months. Earlier on April 20, a farmer named Ananda Kumar of Angarekanahalli consumed poison in front of the deputy commissioner and died two days later in the hospital.
In a similar incident, another farmer, Devaraj of Kothanur, also committed suicide.
