Delhi Police questions magisterial probe into suicide

New Delhi, April 24:

Delhi Police on Friday questioned the need for a magisterial inquiry ordered by the Delhi government after a farmer committed suicide at an AAP rally here.

“We do inquest proceedings in all cases of unnatural deaths in the city and even cremate the unattended, unidentified bodies at our own expense,” police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told the media.

He added that annually 7,000 unnatural deaths occurred in the capital, implying that magisterial inquiries were never ordered into these by the Delhi government.

Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in the capital on Wednesday.

Delhi Police, which reports to the union home ministry and not to the Delhi government, has refused to submit itself to the magisterial inquiry.

Asked if Delhi Police would submit a report to the district magistrate, Bhagat said it was a “sensitive matter and is between Delhi Police and other disciplined organisations and cannot be revealed to the media”.

The district magistrate had asked the police to furnish all documents and evidence related to the incident by 11 a.m. on Friday, failing which he said the matter would be taken to court. (IANS)