KARIMNAGAR: The body of 32-year-old youth Munja Harish, a former employee of RFCL (Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited), was fished out of a well on outskirts of Kamanpura in Peddapalli district on Saturday.
Harish, a resident of Ambalapur village in Shankarapatnam mandal of Karimnagar district, had on Friday posted a message on social media hoping all those like him, who have been cheated of huge amounts of money on pretext of assured jobs in RFCL, will get justice at least after his suicide.
The RFCL jobs issue has turned quite controversial with allegations that Ramagundam MLA Korakanti Chander Patel and his followers had collected up to Rs. 7 lakh from each person promising that they will be provided a permanent job in RFCL. However, this was a well-planned and executed conspiracy. Nearly 400 unemployed youth paid the amount to middlemen and indeed got contractual jobs with RFCL. But the term of this contract company was coming to an end soon after allotment of jobs.
As a result, after the new contracting company took over, it started removing those who had just got their jobs. According to Harish, he had approached the middlemen and demanded his money back. But they did not give him any proper response and he realised he had been cheated.
This sent Harish into depression. He decided to end his life. Before that, he sent a WhatsApp message to his family members and friends hoping all victims of RFCL would get justice after his death. He went on to request media to extend support to victims of the RFCL scam. After posting the message, he switched off his mobile phone.
When police came to know about his suicide bid, they tried to trace him based on his phone’s last location. By then, Harish had consumed a pesticide, left his bike and purse near a well on outskirts of Kamanpur, plunged into the well, and drowned. Police fished out his dead body on Saturday and sent it to Karimnagar hospital for post-mortem.
Victims of RFCL job scam have been staging dharnas and agitations from past one month demanding that middlemen return to them the money that they have collected. Leaders of opposition parties and some peoples’ organisations have accused ruling party legislator Chander Patel and his followers of amassing ₹45 crore from unemployed youth assuring them permanent jobs in RFCL. They even challenged the MLA for an open discussion.
Two days ago, the outlawed Maoist group also released a letter naming the Ramagundam MLA and his followers. It warned them to repay the money they had collected from unemployed youth or face the consequences.
Amid all this, Chander Patel has released a statement asking all RFCL victims who have been cheated to visit his camp office between 9 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday, August 27, or Sunday, August 28 for resolving their issues.
The Ramagundam MLA asked middlemen, whoever they may be, whether his followers or party leaders, to correct their mistake and do justice to RFCL victims. Otherwise, they should be ready to face consequences, he warned.
