Assam: PWD Engineer Dies by Suicide in Bongaigaon; 2 Senior Officials Arrested for Harassment

BONGAIGAON: A young female engineer, working with the Public Works Department (PWD), allegedly died by suicide in Assam’s Bongaigaon district. The deceased, identified as Joshita Das, was a junior engineer with PWD – Housing and had been serving in the district for nearly a year. Police have arrested two accused officials based on an FIR lodged following the death of Das, officials said on Wednesday.

Joshita Das was found hanging in her rented residence at Barpara on Monday. A suicide note recovered from the scene has sent shockwaves through the engineering and administrative community.

In the note, she named two senior PWD officials, former Executive Engineer Dinesh Sharma Medhi and former SDO Aminul Islam, as responsible for subjecting her to severe mental harassment and coercion.

According to her note, Joshita Das was under immense pressure to clear a contractor’s bill related to the construction of a stadium at Borsojgaon under the Gossaigaon Assembly constituency, a project executed with M/s Achetic Creations.

She alleged that despite the project lacking basic architectural drawings and proper documentation, both officials repeatedly pushed her to approve the payment. She also claimed that the contractor, Rudra Pathak, had not appointed a site engineer, leaving her solely responsible for on-site execution.

Additionally, she accused architect Debajit Sarma of submitting an incomplete estimate riddled with discrepancies. Her repeated pleas for assistance were ignored. Though Medhi and Islam were recently transferred, Joshita alleged they continued pressuring her from their new postings.

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