The city police says it is close to a breakthrough in the suicide case of Tata Steel's former head of corporate communications, Charudatta Deshpande.
Deshpande committed suicide in late June here, some time after a critical story on the company had appeared in a leading business magazine; he had lost his job, too. A number of journalists and others had written in protest to the Tata Group heads on what they believed was a campaign of criticism and harassment from within Tata Steel on him, leading to his taking his own life.
The Tata Group has announced a four-member panel, led by Ishaat Hussain, non-executive director at Tata Steel, and three other senior executives. It has yet to give its report.
"We have interrogated as many as 47 persons so far, including vice-presidents Partho Sengupta and Ramesh Krishnan, Charu's assistant and the current head of corporate communications," Joint Commissioner of Police Himanshu Roy told a delegation of the Mumbai Press Club on Thursday.
He said the investigation was progressing well and was near completion. The police say they have unearthed notings in Deshpande's handwriting where he has mentioned some of the circumstances and names in the relevant period before his death. A police team had gone to the Tata Steel headquarters at Jamshedpur and seized Deshpande's personal computer and was examining as many as 1,000 emails he had stored.
Roy said the investigations revealed that Charu was disappointed with his work place and his experiences at Tata Steel. It was discovered that Deshpande was the first person in Tata Steel who, despite being appointed at a very senior level, was not confirmed in service after completion of his probation.
"Tata Steel has been fully cooperating with the police in their investigation. The company, at this stage, does not wish to comment any further," a Tata Steel spokesperson said, when asked.
"In the weeks before his exit in May, depositions revealed that Deshpande's behaviour became more nervous and he began to smoke heavily. In one instance, this even triggered a fire alarm," Roy said. "He developed a sense of frustration because of being sidelined and denied normal travel opportunities which he thought were very essential to fulfill his job profile. Only two of his 36 requests for travel were sanctioned. His request for an audience with the senior management was repeatedly denied."
Roy said the harassment of Charu become more focused and sharp after the publication of the said article, in Forbes magazine, in February. "The article was not too negative of Tata Steel but some Tata Steel managers perceived it so and blamed it on Charu. It has been established that he was uncomfortable with one or two persons and the harassment by his tormentors only increased after the Forbes article," said the police officer.
