MP News: PWD Employee Dies After Alleged Phone Threat By Official In Chhatarpur; Family Blames SDO, Officer Denies Allegations

Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh): A 61-year-old timekeeper in the PWD department, died after his health deteriorated following a threat from PWD SDO in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur.

The deceased identified as Jagdish Shriwas (61) was posted at the Chhatarpur Circuit House. Jagdish recieved a threat call from PWD SDO Shreya Tripathi. The family alleged that the threat caused the man's health to worsen, leading to his death.

According to reports, he was not well was not going to work regularly since December 19th. However, he was working from home. He had gone to the office briefly on January 9th.

What happened on Thursday...

On Thursday at 2:20 PM, the SDO called him and reprimanded him over the phone for not coming to duty, threatening to cut his salary. During this 33-second call, he became agitated, and his health deteriorated further.

When his oxygen level was checked with a pulse oximeter at home, it was found to be low. His daughter-in-law, Vandana Rajak, immediately gave him oxygen using an oxygen concentrator (which they had bought four months earlier for ₹22,000), but his condition did not improve.

They took him to the district hospital at 5 PM, where the doctor declared him dead. The family is alleging that his death was caused by the deterioration of his health after the SDO's phone call.

SDO denied the claims

PWD SDO Shreya Tripathi denied the allegations and said that nothing of the sort happened. She stated that she had called Jagdish Shriwas only because the Governor was visiting Chhatarpur that day and she wanted to know why he was absent from duty. According to her, Jagdish informed her that he was unwell, after which she advised him to rest at home and ended the call.