Gurugram: Father of dead IAS aspirant cries sabotage, seeks new investigating officer

The victim, Priyanka, a resident of Kadipur Industrial Area in Sector 10, was preparing for the IAS examination, and staying at a paying guest accommodation in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar.

The father of the 23-year-old Indian Administrative Service aspirant, who died mysteriously hours after checking into a guest house in Sector 46 with a male acquaintance on July 23, has requested police to change the investigating officer of the case, alleging sabotage of the ongoing probe.

The woman had died mysteriously hours after checking into a guest house in Sector 46 with a male acquaintance on July 23. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo)

The victim’s father, Prem Chand, has submitted an application (a copy of which is with HT), dated August 7, to the commissioner of police, requesting that the investigating officer, ASI Jai Bhagwan of Sector 50 police station, be removed from the case and that the probe be handed to a senior police officer.

Chand raised questions on the probe, alleging that the police were ‘concocting stories’ by claiming that his daughter had committed suicide.

“The investigating officer said that my daughter had consumed poison, since a bottle of poison, purchased by her, was recovered. But he did not disclose the identity of the chemist. I refuse to believe that a chemist would sell poison to such a young woman,” said Chand.

The investigating officer in the case, Jai Bhagwan, said that he was conducting a fair probe after recording the statements of all the parties concerned.

“The accused was arrested three days after the incident. We have to withhold key facets of evidence since they are part of the investigation. A pesticide bottle was recovered from the room of the guest house, and the evidence was sent for forensic examination,” said Bhagwan.

When questioned about the cause of death, he said he can only comment after the viscera report is out.

The autopsy had suggested that the victim died due to a partial rupture of the liver leading to internal bleeding, and the body had no visible external injury marks or signs of assault.

In his application, the victim’s father further questioned as to why did the police inform the family members about her death four hours after she was declared dead. “The police also must explain why my daughter’s body was wet, and why have they not checked the call records of the accused. This is not a suicide, but a murder,” said Chand.

The victim, Priyanka, a resident of Kadipur Industrial Area, Sector 10, was preparing for the IAS examination, and staying at a paying guest accommodation in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi.

In the police complaint, her father had stated that she had left their residence at 6pm on July 23. The investigation had revealed that the victim had checked into a room of a guest house in Sector 46 at 8.30 pm and was later joined by the accused. Around midnight, the accused had taken the woman, in an unconscious state, to a private hospital in Sector 44 in another man’s car and fled. The woman was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

The accused, Ravinder Singh Yadav, surrendered on July 27 after being on the run for more than three days. A case of murder was registered against him.