Keralam: Autorickshaw driver dies by suicide after alleging MVD denied fitness certificate

A 35-year-old autorickshaw driver, Shoukat, from Malappuram, Kerala, allegedly took his own life after alleging that the Motor Vehicles Department had denied him a fitness certificate for his vehicle, police announced on Thursday. Shoukat, who had been working as an autorickshaw driver for four years, had posted on Facebook about the MVD's denial of the certificate, claiming it had been withheld because he had approached the authorities directly without agents.

Friends alerted the police, who found him hanging at his home. The post revealed that Shoukat had been visiting MVD offices for ten months, alleging that the denial of the certificate had left him in severe financial distress, with overdue EMIs and a credit score dropping from 820 to 600. He also claimed that MVD officials had twice certified the steel work carried out on his vehicle as legal.

Shoukat urged the state Home Minister and the Kerala High Court to intervene, seeking a detailed investigation into his allegations. He blamed the agent system for corruption in the MVD and called for its abolition. Police have registered a case of unnatural death and initiated an investigation. The Transport Minister, C P John, has requested a report on Shoukat's allegations against the Kondotty Sub Regional Transport Office, and the Malappuram District RTO will conduct an inquiry and submit a report to the minister.