Delhi court raps Gurugram police over handling remains of murdered real estate sales professional

NEW DELHIA Delhi court on Saturday pulled up the Gurugram police over lapses in handling the body of real estate sales professional Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, who was found murdered, questioning why basic legal procedures were not followed and observing that the police’s failure deprived the deceased’s family of their “right to perform his last rites”

NEW DELHI

The court termed the sequence of events a “shocking state of affairs”. (Representative photo)

A Delhi court on Saturday pulled up the Gurugram police over lapses in handling the body of real estate sales professional Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, who was found murdered, questioning why basic legal procedures were not followed and observing that the police’s failure deprived the deceased’s family of their “right to perform his last rites”.

Calling the sequence of events a “shocking state of affairs”, judicial magistrate first class Rahul Jain questioned the police over their failure to inform an executive magistrate about the inquest, preserve the deceased’s belongings and viscera, upload details of the unidentified body to Zipnet (Zonal Integrated Police Network) and videograph the post-mortem examination.

“Isn’t it the norm to inform the nearest executive magistrate of the subdivisional magistrate on the second day from recovery itself regarding inquest proceedings for the unidentified body? Why wasn’t it carried out?” the court asked the officer from the Badshahpur police station of Gurugram, who handled the case, during the proceedings.

The court was hearing a plea by Manchanda’s sister, Dr Harsimran Manchanda, through senior advocate Amit Prasad, seeking preservation and production of records and digital material related to the death. The court reserved its order on the application and said it would consider the sister’s apprehensions raised in the plea.

During the proceedings, the judge also questioned the cremation of Manchanda’s body along with his belongings, after Prasad submitted that a burnt watch and kada (bracelet) were recovered from the site of the cremation.

“How can a body be cremated along with the belongings? How can the law not be followed?... Do you not upload details of an unidentified body on Zipnet in cases of murder or otherwise? Isn’t that the procedure followed by Gurugram Police?” the judge asked.

The court, besides flagging the absence of post-mortem examination videography, pulled up the Gurugram police over discrepancies between two post-mortem examination reports—one mentioning bullet injuries and the other attributing the cause of death to asphyxiation due to ante-mortem drowning. It also took note of the fact that the viscera had not been preserved during the post-mortem.

“The post-mortem reports are different, one mentions bullet injuries and the other asphyxiation due to ante-mortemn drowning. How can such basic procedures be skipped?” the court asked.

The judge observed that the police officer from the Badshahpur station had “no concrete response” to the questions. “The complainant not only lost her brother... you snatched away he family’s right to dutifully carry out his last rites,” the court said.

Prasad alleged that the police actions amounted to destruction of evidence and were intended to “save the culprits”, arguing that the court had the ancillary powers to issue directions over the handling of the deceased’s body.

The court had on Thursday observed that the Gurugram Police had “botched up” the case and carried out a “complete hotch potch” in handling Manchanda’s body.

Delhi Police has said Manchanda’s family did not approach them until September 11 because the accused allegedly used his phone to send messages to relatives, creating the impression that he was alive.

Vats and Sachdeva were arrested from Kaichi Dham in Uttarakhand on September 16. During interrogation, they allegedly disclosed details of the murder and disposal of the body, following which Delhi Police contacted Gurugram police and obtained information about the case.

The family’s plea alleges that the Badshahpur police cremated Manchanda’s body as that of an unidentified person on September 14, despite an FIR over his disappearance having been registered at Lajpat Nagar police station three days earlier. It further alleges that photographs and details of the body were not uploaded on Zipnet between September 10, when it was recovered, and September 14, when it was cremated, and were uploaded only on September 16.