KOLHAPUR: The body of a 26-year-old youth from Kaneriwadi in Karveer taluka, who had earlier reportedly participated in a rally at Gokul Shirgaon seeking reservation for the Maratha community, was found hanging from the ceiling of his house on Sunday afternoon.His family said he had been unemployed and depressed.Police said no suicide note was left behind. The youth, Vinayak Parsharam Gudage, was the son of workers at a garment factory at Kagal, MIDC. His younger brother is studying a computer hardware diploma course, police said.His parents were away at work on Sunday too. Gudage and his brother Pramod were at home. Pramod said he had gone out for some work. When he returned and entered the kitchen, he found his brother's body hanging from the ceiling by a sari.Pramod then raised an alarm and neighbours and relatives arrived. The body was taken down and rushed to Chhatrapati Pramila Raje (CPR) Civil Hospital, where doctors declared Gudage brought dead, said deputy superintendent of police, Kolhapur city, Prashant Amrutkar.After the post-mortem, the body was handed over to the family. Both the father and brother have testified that the young man had been depressed over a long spell of unemployment.He had studied up to Class XII and worked for a while at the Kagal MIDC.Although the father and brother of the youth claim that the suicide was caused by depression over joblessness, members of the Maratha community agitating for reservation at Dasara Chowk said Gudage was fighting for reservations for Marathas and had participated in recent agitations.Indrajit Sawant, convenor of the Maratha organisations, said, "He was active in our agitations and addressed the rally at Gokul Shirgaon two days ago."Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan , who was in the city on Sunday, visited the family of Gudage. Speaking to reporters after offering his condolences to the family, Chavan said, "This is a sad situation. We have already told the government that we are ready to cooperate for giving reservation to the Maratha community. Government should speed up the process and not misguide people. The suicides show that government has failed to create jobs for youth."

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