Failing to take his 70 quintal sugar cane crop to the mill which had closed for this crushing season farmer Ompal Singh committed suicide in village Sisauli of district Muzaffarnsgar on Thursday evening .

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra strongly raised the matter via her tweet on social media and cornered the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh on this issue .

The suicide by Ompal Singh (55), a marginal farmer, created unrest amongst the villagers and family members who demanded to lodge an FIR against Khatauli sugar mill management. They sat on a dharna in the village with the dead body of the farmer on Friday morning refusing to perform its last rites untill the FIR is lodged.

Addl district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar Amit Singh, circle officer of Fugana Somendra Negi, union minister Sanjeev Baliyan, MLA of Budhana Umesh Malik and Bhartiya Kisan Union president Naresh Baliyan visited the spot of the protest and tried to pacify the villagers to perform last rites of the farmer. The villagers called off their protest only after Baliyan declared Rs 5 lakh relief to the family.

Deceased farmer Ompal Singh was a marginal farmer with a landholding of 15 bighas. He was the father of five daughters of whom only two are married, said the ADM adding that the mill had bought his 149 quintal sugarcane and only 70 quintals was left.

The matter, however, is under investigation as to what is the actual reason for his suicide, said the ADM adding that the possibility of family dispute could not be ruled out.

Ompal had left his house to go to the fields on Thursday morning and in the evening he was found hanging from a tree in the outskirts of village Sisauli . According to his family members, Ompal was not in a good state of mind since past some time. In fact, his sugar cane crop is still standing in 2.5 bigha land of his field which is about 70 quintal while the Khautauli sugar mill where he had to supply the sugar cane closed for this crushing season.

There was a serious problem before him because of the closure of the mill . In fact, the slips are issued to the farmers by the cane society on the basis of which they supply sugar cane to the mills. This time in view of the lockdown the process of supply of the sugar cane to the mills suffered as the crushing season was delayed. The officials earlier had promised that sugar mills will not be closed unless each and every farmer’s sugar cane crop reaches the mills. Yet Ompal’s crop remained in the field and became a reason for his suicide, said Dharmendra Malik, state spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union.