Surat : Deputy Mamlatdar Found Dead, Police Probe Underway

Surat | Gujarat — The death of a young woman officer from Gujarat’s revenue department has sent shockwaves through Surat, raising serious questions about stress and pressures faced by government officials. A female deputy mamlatdar posted in Olpad taluka allegedly died by suicide after hanging herself at her residence in the Rander area on Monday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Hinisha Patel, who was serving as Deputy Mamlatdar at the Olpad mamlatdar office. Hinisha lived with her husband, Ketan Patel, who is also posted as a Deputy Mamlatdar in the same office. According to police, the incident came to light when the couple was preparing to leave for work.

“While leaving for the office this morning, the husband went downstairs to bring the car. When his wife did not come down for a long time, he went back upstairs to check and found her hanging in the bedroom,” said Rander Police Inspector R. J. Chaudhary. Hinisha was immediately shifted to the hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

As news of the incident spread, employees from the revenue department rushed to the hospital, while senior officials sought details from the police. The tragic incident has deeply unsettled colleagues, particularly as both husband and wife had recently achieved a major career milestone.

According to sources in the revenue department, both Hinisha Patel and her husband were earlier serving as Revenue Talatis and were promoted to the post of Deputy Mamlatdar in 2023. However, an anonymous petition had reportedly been filed against Hinisha some time ago in connection with a land-related matter. The complaint was investigated by authorities in Gandhinagar, following which she was given a clean chit.

“An anonymous application was received earlier, but the officer was cleared during the official inquiry,” a revenue department source said, adding that whether this episode caused mental stress remains unclear.

Police officials said no suicide note was recovered from the scene, making it difficult to immediately ascertain the motive behind the extreme step. “The postmortem is currently underway. We have not found any suicide note so far,” Inspector Chaudhary confirmed.

As part of the investigation, police will seize the deceased officer’s mobile phone and examine call records and social media activity. Statements of family members will also be recorded after the completion of the last rites.