No case registered yet in Vajpayee's assistant's death

Police have yet to file a case a day after the body of a 77-year-old man, who was an assistant to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found in an uncovered pit in south Delhi, officials said.

Police have yet to file a case a day after the body of a 77-year-old man, who was an assistant to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found in an uncovered pit in south Delhi, officials said on Sunday.

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"The body of the victim, TN Makan, who retired as Vajpayee's additional secretary, was found by a passerby on Saturday morning. The body was lying in the eight feet deep pit on the road divider which was dug up by a contractor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to install new street lights," a senior police officer said.

"After his body was found in the pit, he was rushed to the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) where he was declared brought dead. The victim had left his residence around 8:30 Friday evening to buy grocery items. He was missing since then," the police officer added.

Makan was a resident of Malviya Nagar area of south Delhi.

The police, however, have not registered any case as yet as they want to ascertain the cause of death.

"There were a lot of injury marks on his body. We are waiting for the post-mortem report to establish the exact cause of death. We want to confirm whether he died because of falling in the pit or some other reasons," the police officer said.

"If the report would suggest that he died because of falling in the pit, then a case against the erring MCD contractor would be registered," police sources said.