Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has formed panel of three doctors from city hospitals and sought their opinion on the death of a man in 2021 which was ruled as a suicide by the police, as against his father’s claim that he was murdered.
The high court was hearing a petition by Kolkata-resident Pankaj Datta, 77, alleging that his son Abhijeet’s death was a murder. He urged the court to direct the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) and investigate the death thoroughly. The police said that Abhijeet had died by suicide, and closed the case. However, Datta raised several concerns thereby contending that his son was murdered.
His petition stated that he received a call from the police on September 24, 2021, informing him of Abhijeet’s death by suicide. When he arrived in Mumbai, he identified his son’s body by the clothes, but noted several troubling details. He alleged that there was blood on the floor, and Abhijeet’s belongings were scattered. This created doubts in his mind about the police’s theory of suicide. Datta also alleged that the police pressured him to cremate his son’s body quickly.
He further claimed that the police informed that the door was locked from inside hence they broke open the door. However, Datta claimed that he found no signs of damage. Datta also questioned why Abhijeet had gone to Mumbai in the first place, as he had already purchased commercial property in Gurugram to start a business. Abhijeet rented a house in Mumbai for a new job in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation is a mystery, Datta said.
Despite Datta presenting his concerns to the police several times, they refused to accept his complaint.
Additional Public Prosecutor VB Konde Deshmukh informed the court that the police had reopened the Accidental Death Report (ADR) for investigation, and was being probed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Sampatrao Patil.
On Wednesday, the court questioned the forensic expert Dr Shiv Kumar, who conducted the autopsy on Abhijeet and concluded the death was a suicide. On a court query why the autopsy was not video recorded, Kumar said it is done only when relatives of the deceased insist.
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A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan directed head of the department of Forensics of the JJ Hospital, the KEM hospital and the Nair hospitals to independently review all the evidence, including the inquest panchnama and photographs of the crime scene and scene of death and form its independent opinion. The panel has been asked to submit its decision in four weeks.
