Bollywood lyricist's son and daughter-in-law commit suicide, alleges blackmailing in suicide note

According to reports, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, the country’s top institute under Union Home Ministry came under fire when Sankalp Anand, son of renowned Indian lyricist Santosh Anand, a lecturer of that institute, committed suicide along with his wife after accusing that some persons related to that institute were black-mailing him for some time. He also alleged mas corruption and scams at the institute. The incident has created a huge uproar. Union Home Ministry has ordered a probe.

Media reported that Sankalp Anand, who worked as a lecturer in the NICFS, commited suicide along with his wife. According to media reports, Sankalp along with his wife and three-year-old daughter drove from Delhi to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and the family then jumped in front of a moving train. Police said that the couple along with their daughter jumped in front of the Inter-city Express heading for Delhi from Agra near Kosikalan area in Mathura on Wednesday morning. Sankalp, 38, and his wife Naresh Nandini Anand died on spot. Their only child, four-year-old daughter Riddhima Anand somehow survived. She has sustained serious injuries and is being treated in hospital.

The “can of worms” opened after police found the suicide letter, allegedly written by Sankalp, in their car. In the 11-page note, Sankalp claimed that he was a lecturer in the premier institute, which according to him was deeply submerged in corruption. Sankalp was a resident of Delhi. Family members said that Sankalp had passed out of Delhi University in 2004 after which he cleared the civil services examination. He was posted at Rajasthan’s Kota as an Assistant Superintendent of Police. Later he took up the job of a lecturer in NICFS, later renamed as Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science in 2011.

Sankalp reportedly said that he was blackmailed by a group of people and he was ending his life due to the extreme pressure inflicted upon him by “his own wrong-doings and the wrong-doings of others”.  In the suicide note, he also named two IPS officers and said they were part of a construction scam and job racket in the institute. Media reported that, Sankalp was said to be in a deep crisis due to his involvement in a bungled deal running into several hundred crores. However, the present director of the institute, Reena Mitra, declined any such allegation.

Apart from the three, Anand has named 20 others in the suicide note who were allegedly involved in some capacity in the “corruption”. In the note, which is co signed by his wife Nandini, Sankalp wrote that he was told by the three seniors that “a construction scheme, for which Rs 250 crore was allotted…He claimed that the senior officials were part of another scam as well. “They were also running a fake job racket for which they had published an ad on October 2012… These officials were not clearing my probation even after three years of service.” He said “known friends” then collected over Rs 1 crore from aspirants and “using this they bought an apartment in Indirapuram”. Anand has also accused over 10 others of harassing him for money that he collected for the institute. The money ranged from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 3 crore, he wrote.

It has been learnt that Sankalp visited his parents the night before the suicide. "Sankalp and his family had stayed over last weekend.  He never told us anything about going to Mathura," Sankalp’s father Santosh Anand said. Santosh Anand, who is a famous Bollywood lyricist, left devastated after hearing the tragic end of his only son. "Sankalp was a very helpful person...such an act by him is very shocking," Santosh Anand said. "We will live for our granddaughter," he told NDTV. Later he added that his grand-daughter is still looking for her mother. "She is still looking for her mother and crying out in her sleep. I don't know how I will tell her about the incident," the 75-year-old songwriter said, almost breaking down.

A team of police officials has left for Delhi to probe into the case. The team, including Assistant Superintendent of Police Priti Priyadarshini and officials Atul Kumar Srivastav and Arvind Kumar, will investigate into the deaths of the couple. On Thursday, police said handwriting experts were being asked to confirm whether the writing in the suicide note was genuine. Family members too have been asked to confirm this. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday ordered a separate probe. Santosh Anand has of course demanded for a CBI inquiry for his son and daughter-in-law’s death. "I believe that Sankalp and Nandini were pushed onto the tracks by someone. The matter needs to be probed. I want the CBI to conduct the investigations and look into the content of the suicide note which was found beside them," he said. MHA officials are reported to be remained tight-lipped on question pertaining whether the case would be handed over to the CBI.