The 2011 “suicide” of Sadiq Batcha, a close associate of DMK leader A Raja and an accused in the 2G Spectrum scam, took a curious turn after five years with 24-year-old K Prabhakaran claiming that he helped then State police intelligence chief Jaffer Sait — who was close to the Karunanidhi family — and Raja's close relative Paramesh to kill Batcha.
“Sadiq Batcha was killed at the office of Green House Promoters in T Nagar in Chennai on March 16, 2011. Jaffar Sait, the then head of Tamil Nadu Intelligence department, strangled him with a towel while Pramesh Kumar, a close relation of Raja, pressed Batcha’s neck with his knee and I held his legs. later, Pramesh Kumar and his friends took Batcha’s body to his house and hung it to make it look like a suicide,” Prabhakaran told reporters at Tiruchirappalli Press Club on Tuesday. Prabhakaran said he got in touch with Raja to make some quick money.
The disclosure/claim by Prabhakaran vindicates the stance of Dr Varadarajulu Deckel, the then Government Forensic Surgeon who conducted the autopsy expressing doubts over the cause of death. Immediately after the autopsy, Dr Deckel, who had 2,500 autopsies to his credit, including 750 suicide cases, had asked the then Director of Medical Education, Tamil Nadu Government, to constitute a team of experts to analyse the reasons behind Batcha’s death.
Dr Deckel had told The Pioneer that he was not convinced about the suicide theory being touted as the cause of Batcha’s death. “As per my observations, Batcha died because of asphyxiation. This could be either due to hanging or strangulation,” said Dr Deckel who quit Government service immediately after Batcha’s autopsy.
He also said that he demanded the setting up of a committee of experts since he doubted the suicide theory. “Having conducted autopsies on more than 750 people who committed suicide, I can make out the differences in a death by hanging and strangulation. A team which included Director, Forensic Science Department, head, Department of Pathology and Director, Medical Education, would have been an ideal body to reach a conclusion because of the sensitivity of this case. But the then Government chose to reject my demand,” said Dr Deckel.
Batcha was found dead on the eve of his departure to New Delhi as the CBI, investigating the 2G Spectrum scam, had summoned him for a second round of questioning. He had been interrogated by the CBI in December 2010 and it was reported that Batcha had spilled some beans on the financial deals of Raja.
Prabhakaran said on Tuesday that Batcha was killed following the latter’s disclosure to the CBI about Raja’s murky deals. There were reports that Green House Promoters was a frontal company of A Raja. Two of his close relations, Pramesh Kumar (nephew) and A Kaliyaperumal (brother) were directors of the company. Raja’s wife Parmeshwari herself was one of the directors of the company. The company itself had been launched with the kickbacks received from the telecom spectrum allocation.
Prabhakaran’s claim that earlier he had confided the details about Batcha’s murder to Vaiko was substantiated by the MDMK leader himself on Wednesday. “Yes, Prabhakaran had disclosed the details to me. I had told him that the matter would be taken up after the election. My charge that MK Stalin too had received kickbacks in the 2G Spectrum scam stands vindicated now,” Vaiko told reporters in Chennai.
