A year after suicides wiped out Bansal family, probe gathers dust in cop files

BK Bansal and his son were found hanging in their flat in Delhi on September 27, 2016. Bansal’s wife and daughter had killed themselves in the same flat in July.

“..I am distressed at my wife and daughter’s suicide/murder by the CBI. I have no desire to live and am taking my life.”

Former director general of corporate affairs B K Bansal, who was facing a CBI probe in a corruption case, allegedly committed suicide along with his son Yogesh Bansal at their residence Neelkanth Apartments in New Delhi, India, on September 27, 2016. (HT File Photo)

BK Bansal, ex-director general, corporate affairs.

“…God, whatever happened to us should not happen to any happy family.”

Yogesh (BK Bansal’s son)

The dead don’t speak. The manner of their deaths do.

On September 28, 2016 two handwritten suicide notes signed by Bansal and his 25-year-old son were delivered to media houses across the city, a day after the two were found hanging in their flat in Delhi. Bansal’s wife Satyabala (57), and daughter Neha (27) had killed themselves in the same flat in July after he was arrested on charges of accepting a bribe from a pharmaceutical company.

In the note, Bansal (63), under investigation for corruption charges, mentioned names of CBI officers who he alleged tortured his wife and daughter. Bansal said the two were tortured and threatened by four CBI officials, forcing them to commit suicide.

Bansal suicide: Copies of note found at residence blames CBI for ‘torture’

To put it in perspective, police arrested a man on Tuesday afternoon within hours of the suicide of a woman who had named him in her letter.

HT mailed a detailed questionnaire to the CBI and Delhi police seeking comments on the Bansal case but is yet to get any reply. Spokespersons of the two agencies also did not respond to repeated calls.

Most police officers say Bansal’s family member were not pursuing the case. The relatives said no police officer came to meet them. There was no one to speak for the Bansals.

HT travelled to Bansal’s ancestral village in Hisar, Haryana, about 180 km from the national capital, to meet who remains in the Bansal family.

Hisar

In his ancestral village at sector 14, Hisar, Bansal is referred to as ‘Babuji’ and ‘Sir’. He was one of the few to leave the village and make it big in India’s capital city.

Locals spoke fondly of the man but refused to be named, saying they had read in newspapers that the accused officers were close to senior politicians.

“Auto mode mein chal raha hoga case (the case must be proceeding automatically). We have no knowledge,” said Vinod, the son of Bansal’s elder brother Pawan, at his shop in Gandhi Chowk.

He also spoke of “troubles” since the deaths.

Suicide was the only option left with Bansals, says domestic help

“Please don’t click our photographs. We have had enough troubles. After media reported the suicide notes and it made the headlines, a CBI team came to our house saying they were enquiring the role of their officers but it turned out to be our interrogation,” he told HT.

“They asked me to tell the exact distance between the CBI officers and my aunt inside the house on the day of the raid. It was a six-hour-long interrogation and see what has come out of it,” said Vinod, who was present at the Bansal residence in Delhi in July last year when the CBI raided the apartment for the second time.

Vinod said Delhi police have not contacted any member of the family till date.

“On July 18, we heard about our uncle’s arrest on television. I had never been to their house but because I was worried about Neha and aunty, I went to meet them. At the house, the CBI officers asked me to stay at the top floor, while they were interrogating my aunty and sister below,” he said.

Bansal suicide: CBI deputes joint director to probe torture allegations

“They (the CBI officials) were rough and abusive. A few times that I went to the ground floor to get water, I saw the two women crying. Let me be honest, I did not see them getting beaten but they were abused and were humiliated.”

In the suicide note, Bansal alleged that his wife and daughter were tortured. He named an officer who allegedly boasted of his close link to a senior politician and threatened to bump off his whole family.

“I had heard the CBI is tough but did not know that these officers….would torture and beat my wife and daughter. This is not suicide but murder. My wife was slapped, her nails pulled and she was abused….Even if I was at fault why was my wife and daughter forced to take their lives,” Bansal wrote.

Vinod’s father, Pawan said they have not hired a lawyer.

“The family has been wiped off the face of the earth. Those men are powerful. We live more than three-and-a-half hour’s drive from Delhi. Going to Delhi everyday is also not possible. (Hence) we did not pursue the case.”

Most residents in Gandhi Chowk know about the case and the politicians named in the suicide note.

“Will a dying man lie?” was the question most had in Bansals’ ancestral village.

Neelkant Apartment, Madhu Vihar, Delhi

In this East Delhi middle-class colony, the Bansals would be forgotten but for his two flats, which remain locked. Some of their belongings outside the house, covered in bedsheets are dusty. The two scooters Yogesh owned have developed rust. Bansal’s Maruti Alto car is covered and parked where it was since the morning of September 27.

The colony’s elderly security guard said, “Sir used to clean the car like his child. He used not one but three car covers. He loved his cars. Whenever we see dust or leaves on top of the cover, we clean it. The whole family is gone. This car will also turn to rust someday.”