Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: A central government Class-IV employee today committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his office at Nayapalli.

The deceased, Prahlad Sethi, used to work in the office of the deputy chief labour commissioner. He has left behind a note holding a senior clerk of his office, S.K. Pradhan, responsible for his death. Nayapalli police have detained Pradhan.

Prahlad had been working as a peon at the office for past 13 years.

Sethi’s colleagues saw his body hanging from the ceiling fan this morning.

They informed the police who seized the body from the spot. After autopsy, the police handed over the body to Prahlad’s family members.

Sources said Prahlad might have committed suicide between 9am and 10am. His family members, who reside at Old AG Colony, were immediately informed about the incident.

Abhiram Sethi, a relative of the deceased, said that Pradhan used to harass Prahlad by blocking his arrears.

“He had been very upset for this reason for the past few days. When we enquired, he also said Pradhan had been mentally torturing him,” said Abhiram.

The police have seized the suicide note in which the deceased had mentioned that Pradhan had blocked his arrears worth around Rs 1 lakh. In the note, it was alleged that Pradhan had even taken the ATM card of Prahlad’s bank account in which his salary was deposited.

Inspector in charge of Nayapalli police station Anup Kanungo confirmed that Pradhan had forcibly taken Prahlad’s ATM card four days ago and invested some money in a chit fund against the wish of the latter.

“Pradhan admitted his guilt during interrogation. We will book him under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code for abetting Prahlad to commit suicide,” said Kanungo.