Cops knowingly showed murder as suicide: Court

New Delhi: A Delhi court has slammed the Delhi Police for its probe into the mysterious death of a 23-year-old man last year, saying it had “deliberately attempted” to portray it as a case of suicide.

The court, which directed the registration of an FIR to probe the “tragic death” of the man, a manager at a high-end hotel here, said the case also required thorough investigation to unearth the “blatant attempt” of the police to give it the colour of suicide.

The court also ordered an inquiry into the alleged lapses on the part of the police officials involved in the case and directed that strict action be taken if a deliberate attempt to scuttle the probe was found.

“The case requires thorough police investigation not only to determine the true facts behind the tragic death of deceased but now also to uncover this blatant attempt to portray the death as a suicide from the very beginning,” chief metropolitan magistrate Sumedh Kumar Sethi said.

The court’s observations came on the plea of the mother of Arnav Duggal, seeking a first information report (FIR) into the death of her son alleging he was killed by a close female friend.

She further claimed that her son was strangled to death by the woman at her Dwarka residence on June 13 last year but the police was not taking any action on her complaint.

The investigating officer (IO), in his report, submitted before the court that the probe hinted it was a suicide and there was no material to prove that the woman had killed him.

The court, however, rejected the submissions of the police and said, “The court cannot help but notice that from the day of the incident itself the police seems to have presumed that this is a case of suicide. Despite the deceased being found dead in such mysterious circumstances  and serious allegations being levelled by the parents of the deceased, the police had refused to register an FIR.”

The court said that even the polygraph test conducted on the accused woman seemed to be done in a “rudimentary manner, seemingly a formality” by the police.