Builder shoots self inside car in SoBo

Mumbai: Jigar Thakkar, a director of the construction firm D Thakkar Realty Private Limited, committed suicide by shooting himself inside his car at Nariman Point at 7.15 pm on Tuesday. The police said the builder had used his licensed revolver to kill himself inside his car, which was parked at Marine Drive. 

The police suspect that prima facie he may have committed suicide due to business losses. Thakkar’s firm was under the scanner of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau’s probe into alleged irregularities related to a tender worth Rs 56 crore, which was awarded for the work on the tail branch canal of the Mokahbardi lift irrigation scheme (LIS), one of the components of the Gosikhurd Dam. The ACB submitted its chargesheet in the case last month.    

According to the police, when Thakkar, who was in his forties, shot himself, his driver was at the car’s wheels. Thakkar asked the driver to stop and then whipped out his revolver to shoot himself. The shocked driver alerted the police, who took Thakkar to GT Hospital where he was declared ‘brought dead’, said police sources. The police questioned the driver about the sequence of events before the suicide. The police has called his family members and are now getting further details about him.

According to the Marine Drive police, Thakkar had come to attend a meeting near Nariman Point in his silver Mahindra Rexton. He asked the driver to stop the car near NCPA. Within a minute he took out his revolver from his bag and shoot himself in the head.

A police officer said, “ The incident happened around 7.15 pm. His driver immediately called the police helpline number. After the police reached the spot, they immediately took Thakkar to the GT hospital, where he declared brought dead.”

DCP zone 1, Manojkumar Sharma, said, “ At this initial stage we haven’t received any suicide note, but his family members are saying that he was facing some financial losses in the business front and because of that he might have taken this extreme step.”

Dr Mukund Tayde, superintendent of GT hospital said, “ The person has shot himself in the head. He was brought to hospital around 7.40pm. We have called the lecturer from JJ hospital to conduct the post-mortem and soon we will do it.” 

This is the second instance in which a builder committed suicide by shooting himself. In 2015, 45-year-old Suraj Ramesh Parmar, chairperson and managing director of the Cosmos Group, shot himself with his personal .32 calibre pistol in a sample bungalow at one of his upcoming projects in Kasarvadavli.