A 27-year-old man from Maharashtra’s Jalna district ended his life after enduring relentless online abuse and threats over a viral video showing him urinating near Sambhajinagar station.
A 27-year-old man from Maharashtra’s Jalna district ended his life after enduring relentless online abuse and threats over a viral video showing him urinating near Sambhajinagar station. The victim, identified as Mahesh Adhe, took the extreme step on Wednesday morning by tying his own hands and jumping into a farm well in Dhokmal Tanda.
The controversy stemmed from a clip recorded on October 30, showing Adhe and a friend urinating under a railway signboard bearing the name Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. After facing severe backlash, the duo uploaded an apology video the next day, pleading for forgiveness. But instead of dying down, the wave of trolling intensified, spreading across multiple social media platforms despite repeated requests to stop.
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“Mahesh was distressed for days as the video clips — first of the act, and later of his apology — continued to circulate on multiple social media accounts despite his requests to stop the trolling,” said Assistant Inspector Ganesh Survase of Ashti Police Station.
According to investigators, Adhe received yet another threat call around 6 am on Wednesday. “As per the family, faced with relentless trolling, including the latest call received around 6am on Wednesday, Adhe told his cousin and uncle that he could not bear the pressure any longer. He then left home at 6.30am. After he did not return even by 9.30am, the family members started looking for him, only to find his footwear and mobile phone near the well. His body, with hands tied, was taken out of the well around 11am,” Survase added.
Late on Wednesday, based on a complaint from his cousin Akhilesh, the Ashti police registered an FIR under BNS sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 3 (5) (common intention) against seven individuals accused of circulating the video and issuing threats.
Confirming the development, Jalna Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Bansal said, “We have registered a case against seven people who allegedly kept issuing threats and trolling Adhe. There is a claim that the latest threat was received by him on Wednesday around 6 am, following which he took the extreme step. We are investigating the matter.”
Preliminary inquiries suggest that both Adhe and his friend were allegedly intoxicated at the time of the incident. Despite their public apology, several social media pages continued to share and ridicule the videos, intensifying the humiliation. The family also alleged that a senior Shiv Sena office-bearer from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was among those who circulated the clips.
Following Adhe’s death, thousands of enraged locals gathered outside the Ashti Police Station, demanding swift justice and immediate arrests of those who filmed, shared, and threatened him.