Guwahati: A 30-year-old assistant engineer with the Assam Public Works Department (PWD) on Wednesday died by suicide in Assam’s Bongaigaon district.
The victim, Joshita Das, worked as an Assistant Engineer with the PWD (Housing) division, was originally hailed from Silpukhuri in Guwahati, and had recently been posted to Bongaigaon.
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On Monday, she was found dead in her rented house at Barpara in Bongaigaon.
Investigators recovered a suicide note that directly accused two senior PWD officials, former Executive Engineer Dinesh Sharma Medhi and former Sub-Divisional Officer Aminul Islam, of subjecting her to continuous mental harassment.
The incident has sparked massive public outrage after police nabbed two senior officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) on charges of mentally harassing her.
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The accused officials were identified as Dinesh Medhi Sharma, a recently promoted superintendent engineer who earlier served as executive engineer in Bongaigaon, and Aminul Islam, a sub-divisional officer (SDO) currently posted in Bongaigaon.
In her note, Joshita described how the two officials pressured her to clear a contractor’s bill for a project titled “MIN Stadium at Borsojgaon under Gossaigaon LAC,” despite serious flaws in the documentation. The project, handled by M/s Achetic Creations, allegedly lacked architectural plans and critical records.
She also revealed that the contractor, Rudra Pathak, had not appointed a site engineer, leaving her to manage technical responsibilities on her own. Despite raising repeated concerns and requesting assistance, Joshita wrote that she received no support. She further alleged that architect Debajit Sarma submitted an estimate riddled with errors, which she flagged without result.
Although both Medhi and Islam had recently been transferred, Medhi to Nalbari NH Division and Islam to the Chief Engineer’s office, Joshita claimed they continued to pressure her from their new roles.
After her death, Joshita’s mother lodged a police complaint, accusing the two officials of ongoing harassment. “She often spoke about unbearable work pressure. It broke her mentally,” her mother told reporters.
Based on the note and a formal complaint lodged by her family, police registered a case under Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Acting on the FIR and initial evidence, Bongaigaon police take both Medhi and Islam into custody.