Haryana DGP admits lapses in handling of Yuvraj Singh Manchanda's body

Ajay Singhal said police would review their procedures after a Delhi court took cognisance of lapses in the handling of Yuvraj Singh Manchanda’s body.

Haryana director general of police Ajay Singhal on Monday acknowledged certain lapses in the handling of the body of murdered Delhi man Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, whose decomposed body was recovered from sewage-filled land in Badshahpur, while defending the three-day preservation procedure followed by Gurugram Police for unidentified bodies.

Manchanda, a resident of Sarita Vihar, went missing after leaving for Gurugram from Lajpat Nagar market on the evening of September 6.

“But there were certain lapses of which the court (Delhi) has taken cognisance. We will look into it and will amend our instructions. We will issue appropriate directions,” Singhal said in response to Hindustan Times’ query on whether the state police headquarters had issued any directions after the handling of Manchanda’s unidentified body.

“Let me clarify for you that we have specific standard operating procedures. If we find a body here, we can’t keep it for more than three days; otherwise, it will rot. We followed the standard operating procedure and cremated it accordingly,” he said.

Singhal was speaking to the media after inaugurating a new building for the Sector-17/18 police station along MG Road.

Manchanda, a resident of Sarita Vihar, went missing after leaving for Gurugram from Lajpat Nagar market on the evening of September 6. His family filed a missing complaint at the Lajpat Nagar police station on September 11, and Delhi Police registered a first information report and uploaded his details, including his photograph, on the inter-state Zonal Integrated Police Network portal on the same day.

Gurugram Police had recovered a highly decomposed, unidentified body from sewage-filled land in Badshahpur on the morning of September 10. The body was preserved for 72 hours and cremated on September 14 following an autopsy, along with belongings including clothes. Details were simultaneously uploaded on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and the Systems Unidentified Dead Body Recovery Database.

However, the investigating officer, who was later suspended, uploaded details of the recovery and photographs on the ZIPNET platform, used by Gurugram, Delhi and a few other states, only on September 16, two days after the cremation.