The ugly face-off between Delhi Police and New Delhi District Magistrate intensified on Saturday as the former sent a detailed report on the farmer suicide to the Home Ministry stating that the SDM Chanakyapuri had prevented them for conducting post-mortem on Gajendra Singh’s body after his death. The report - a copy of which is with The Pioneer - stated that the SDM had also failed to produce an official order for conducting an inquest.
In the three-page report, police said that after Gajendra Singh was pronounced dead on arrival, SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate) of Chanakyapuri Krishna Chaitanya visited the hospital and the mortuary and stated that he had been authorised by GNCT Delhi to conduct a magisterial enquiry stating that post-mortem be not conducted immediately and the cadaver be kept in the mortuary.
“On being asked by local police to produce some official order in this regard, he could produce none,” stated the report. On Friday, Delhi Police refused to share the details of the farmer’s suicide case with the DM citing legal issues. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said police has powers to investigate the issue under CrPC Act as well as Delhi Police Act and in case of doubt, police can take legal opinion. The DM had, on Thursday, set the deadline for Friday 11 am for police to comply with the order of sharing case details with him.
The report also said that when somebody climbs a tree, only trained rescuers can bring the person down or the negotiators try tiring the person out till the time he becomes amenable to reason. “However, in this particular case, the participant of the rally instigated him to jump from the tree. Even though fire brigade personnel were on their way, AAP volunteers untied him in the most thoughtless fashion conceivable.”