Cop’s death: HC seeks details

The court has agreed to hear another plea filed by lawyer Gaurav Bansal seeking a CBI probe into Tomar's death given the discrepancies in reason cited for his death, Harish V Nair reports.

Was Delhi Police constable Subhash Tomar beaten to death by anti-rape protesters at India Gate or did he collapse after suffering a heart attack?

The Delhi High Court has decided to look into the episode that triggered a huge controversy. The court asked Delhi Police to file a status report on its probe into the circumstances leading to Tomar's death.

Justice GP Mittal also issued notices to the Home ministry and the Delhi government, seeking their stand on the issue by January 15, the next date of hearing.

Citing a post-mortem report, the police had claimed that the constable had died after he was assaulted by eight youths, who have now been charged with murder. The court order came while admitting a plea by the youths for quashing the FIR lodged on December 23.

The court has also agreed to hear another plea filed by lawyer Gaurav Bansal seeking a CBI probe into Tomar's death given the discrepancies in reason cited for his death.

The statements of the eyewitnesses and report of the doctors said he died of a heart attack. But the police chief and the post-mortem report suggested that Tomar had suffered grievous injuries after the assault, which led to his death

The youths, who were earlier granted bail for simple rioting, was later booked with murder after Tomar's death.

"The Delhi Police chief needs to be summoned by the court and asked to give reasons as to how he made false statements in his press conference about the whole case," Somnath Bharti, the lawyer for the youths told the court.

Questioning the post-mortem report and the police chief's statement, he said there was eyewitness account and version of the doctors that Tomar had collapsed after suffering a heart attack.

He contended that the video footage of the Metro also showed that two of the 'framed' accused Kailash Joshi and his brother Amit were travelling in the Metro when Tomar had collapsed.