Surat man dies by suicide ‘after girlfriend ends relationship under pressure’

An NGO that counselled the 22-year-old Surat resident said he had attempted suicide twice before.

A man who reportedly had to end his relationship with his friend’s sister and received counselling from an NGO working to prevent suicides allegedly killed himself at Surat in Gujarat on Monday evening.

The police identified the man as Sagar Zikarda, 22, a resident of Haridwar Society in Katgargam, who had worked as a sculptor at Lal Darwaja in Surat for the last four years.

After Sagar allegedly attempted suicide, his father learnt about the incident and immediately took him to the SMIMER Hospital, where he was declared dead after primary treatment.

The Katargam police have registered an accidental death case and started an investigation.

Police sources said Sagar had been experiencing suicidal thoughts and was undergoing counselling from Chalo Jeevi Laiye Foundation.

Jay Prajapati, who runs the NGO, told The Indian Express , “Sagar Zikarda was undergoing sessions at our centre and was slowly getting rid of suicidal attempts.

Sagar, along with a Maharashtrian friend, had learnt the art of sculpture at a firm at Lal Darwaja.

The two friends used to go to the sculpture firm and return on the same bike.

Both families had good, friendly relationships with each other.

Sagar proposed to his friend’s younger sister, who accepted, and they had been meeting secretly for the past two years.

After her brother learnt about the relationship, Sagar stopped coming to the workplace and stopped being friends with him.”
Prajapati added, “He also belongs to our community, and there is no sculptor in our community.

So we encouraged him to start a small art class in the Katargam area for community youths who want to learn sculpting.

We told him that once he started running the classes, students would call him “Sagar Sir”, which would give him great respect and honour in society.”
Sagar’s father hails from Saurashtra and has been settled in Surat for the last 20 years.

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