5 more arrested in UP advocate suicide case

 Five more people have been arrested in connection with the death of an advocate who allegedly shot himself after being harassed by a group of people who tried to extort Rs 60 lakh from him, police said on Monday.

Seven people have been arrested in the case so far, they said.

Senior advocate Mukesh Kumar Pathak (50), a resident of Samadnagar locality, had killed himself late on Saturday night and a suicide note was recovered, police had said, adding that a case was registered against the pramukh of Kabrai development block, Chhatrapal Yadav, and his nephew Vikram Yadav.

Chhatrapal and Vikram were arrested on Sunday, they said.

"Five accused persons -- Ravi Soni, Ankit Soni, Abhay Pratap Singh, Anand Mohan Yadav and Manish Chaubey -- were arrested on Monday," Station House Officer (SHO), Kotwali, Anoop Kumar Dubey said.

Earlier, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajendra Kumar Gautam had told PTI: "Three more people involved in the suicide of advocate Pathak in Samadnagar area of the district were arrested on Monday. They are Ravi Soni, Ankit Soni and Abhay Pratap Singh." Dubey said on February 7, a case of extortion and threat to kill (a person) was registered against Chhatrapal, Vikram, Anand Mohan, Ravi Soni and Ankit Soni on the basis of a complaint from the advocate.

He, however, said that Pathak had filed the complaint on January 19.

Asked why the case was registered after 18 days of filing of complaint, the SHO said, I do not know the reasons for this as I was posted in the Kotwali Police Station on February 9.

 Citing family members of the deceased, Dubey had said Pathak was called to a hotel on Saturday and the accused asked him to withdraw the complaint, following which he took the extreme step.