Delhi Police has registered a case against unknown persons under Sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 306 (Abetment of suicide) of IPC in connection with the farmer’s death, who allegedly hanged himself in full public view at the Aam Aadmi Party’s rally at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. The case has also reportedly been handed over to the Crime Branch.
On Wednesday, A farmer from Rajasthan allegedly hanged himself to death with a gamchha (towel) from a neem tree at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar road where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held a kisaan rally (farmer’s rally) protesting against the new land acquisition bill.
The incident took place amid thousands of people around 1.50 pm, shortly after Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal reached the venue.
Soon after the incident, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Delhi Commissioner BS Bassi and ordered an immediate probe. Senior AAP leaders later accused the police of being mute spectators and doing nothing to save a precious life. Reacting to that, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), MK Meena, said that the allegations were wrong and the police is conducting an enquiry.
“We are probing every moment and sequence of the incident. We will be in a position to say anything only after the inquiry is completed,” he added. Joint Commissioner Meena started the probe on being asked by commissioner BS Bassi. On Wednesday evening, the case was handed over to the Crime Branch, confirmed a senior Crime Branch official, without disclosing further details.
Gajendra Singh — the man with a thick beard, wearing a khaki coloured kurta with a white dhoti and white turban — held a stick with a broom attached at one end, which apparently suggested that he was just another euphoric AAP supporter from some rural area. “We asked him to come down, but he refused. After one point, the senior leaders of AAP also started pleading. But nobody expected something like this to happen,” said a police official deployed at the venue.
For some spectators, including a few police officials, it all seemed like an act until the news of the farmer’s death reached the venue.