Mumbai cops to probe Dadra & Nagar Haveli administrator’s role in Delkar’s death

Mohan Delkar, an Independent member of Parliament from Dadar and Nagar Haveli, was found dead in a south Mumbai hotel on Monday. An initial police probe indicated that he died by suicide

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said the Mumbai Police will probe Dadra and Nagar Haveli administrator Praful Patel and the local administration’s alleged role in local Parliament member Mohan Delkar’s death. He said the team investigating the case will visit the Union territory as the Congress claimed Delkar, 58, was under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership to join the party.

Mohan Delkar. (ANI File)

Deshmukh said Delkar has named Patel in his suicide note. “...[Delkar] has also said that he was choosing Mumbai and Maharashtra to commit suicide expecting justice after death. We have received many memorandums raising doubts over the case. Police are investigating if there was pressure from the Centre on Patel and in turn from Patel on local administration to harass Delkar.”

Patel was not immediately available for comments, but the BJP rubbished them as baseless. “The Congress is linking the BJP for no reason. Let the investigation take place and truth come to the fore. Why are they jumping to conclusions? As per a verdict by the Supreme Court, the suicide note is also to be subjected to legal scrutiny. The Congress has developed a habit of linking the BJP in everything...,” said BJP leader Madhu Chavan.

Delkar, an Independent member of Parliament from Dadar and Nagar Haveli, was found dead in a south Mumbai hotel on Monday. An initial police probe indicated that he died by suicide.

Congress leader Sachin Sawant, who held a virtual meeting with Deshmukh on Wednesday, said Delkar had spoken about the harassment in the Parliament during the last session. Sawant said Patel is a former BJP minister and close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the party’s ideological fountainhead. “[Delkar] was being pressurised to join the BJP and Patel has played a key role in it. The local administration is likely to have been under pressure for similar harassment tactics. If an MP [member of Parliament] is meted with such type of treatment, what would be the fate of the general public.”

The Congress has claimed Delkar’s video message and suicide note establish he was being harassed to force him to join the BJP. It has demanded a probe into the political link to the suicide case. “The MP has named administrator Praful Patel in the 16-page suicide note holding him responsible for the harassment he had been facing. The note also has a reference to the harassment being meted out to him on the ‘orders from the top’. The MP had also alleged fake cases were registered against him. He chose Mumbai to commit suicide probably with the trust that he will get justice after death,” the Congress said in a memorandum to Deshmukh.