Cab driver dies by suicide amid fears over voter roll revision in Telangana

A 51-year-old cab driver allegedly died by suicide in Hyderabad after suffering severe mental distress over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with his family claiming he feared the possible deletion of his name from the voter list and its impact on their access to welfare benefits.

Sheikh Mujbil Rehman was found hanging at his residence in Bharat Nagar, Borabanda, in the early hours of Sunday. Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.

According to family members, Rehman had been struggling for weeks to resolve discrepancies in his identity documents after discovering that his name did not appear in the 2002 electoral roll, which is being used for mapping during the ongoing revision exercise. They said differences in the spelling of his name across official documents, including his Aadhaar card and passport, as well as inconsistencies in his date of birth, left him deeply anxious about potential legal complications.

His nephew, Imam, said Rehman had spent nearly Rs.1.5 lakh on obtaining and correcting various documents while making repeated visits to government offices over the past month. He also found that the names of his parents were missing from the 2002 voter list, further intensifying his fears.

The family said Rehman was particularly worried about the future of his wife and three children, two of whom have intellectual disabilities. His wife said he feared that if his name was removed from the electoral roll, the family could lose access to welfare schemes, including the disability pensions received by their children.

"He had been under immense stress for several days and was unable to sleep properly," she said, adding that he repeatedly spoke about the uncertainty surrounding the documentation process and its possible consequences for the family.

According to her, Rehman woke up around 2 am on Sunday, drank some water and returned to bed. He woke again about an hour later but did not respond when she asked if he was leaving for work. Around 4.30 a.m., their son discovered him hanging and raised the alarm.

Originally from Karnataka, Rehman's family had settled in Hyderabad several decades ago, well before his marriage nearly 30 years ago.

The incident comes as Telangana undertakes a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Door-to-door enumeration began on 25 June, with booth level officers distributing more than 1.43 crore enumeration forms across the state as of Sunday, covering 42.33 per cent of registered voters.

With IANS inputs