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Delhi

Why double standards even in similar cases of suicide?

In a show of unpredictable action on similar charges , the Delhi Police have not yet taken cognizance of accusations leveled by former bureaucrat BK Bansal, who had charged CBI sleuths of compelling his family of four to commit suicide. But Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sharad Chauhan and an Investigating Officer were arrested on similar charges leveled by a woman party worker, who had ended her life. 

Bansal in his suicide note has alleged that CBI DIG Sanjiv Gautam and other officers tortured his wife and daughter to the extent that they found it better to end their lives.

“A suicide note suffices to be considered as a clinching evidence to register a case under IPC Section 306 (abetment to suicide),” said a senior investigating officer of the Crime Branch, which arrested Chauhan, an MLA from Narela, in the July  last week for abetting the suicide of a woman worker of the party. 

Along with Chauhan, two of his assistants, a history-sheeter of the area, and an investigating officer of the case were also arrested. 

The Delhi police have booked them under Sections 201 (concealing information) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and appropriate provisions of the IT Act.

On July 18, the woman worker had allegedly consumed poison at her house, after she posted a video on the party’s WhatsApp group, alleging harassment by Chauhan. She had alleged that a party leader, Ramesh Bhardwaj on behest of the support by Chauhan was forcing her for sexual favours and even threatened  to tarnish her image. 

The police arrested Chauhan based on the alleged threat letters, which the woman had received, and the video that she had posted on WhatsApp – taking those as the victim’s dying declaration. 

However, the same parameters have not been applied in the suicide case of former Corporate Affairs Director General  Bal Kishan Bansal and his son, Yogesh, who ended their lives in their East Delhi residence on September 28.

Talking about the parameters, a senior police officer, posted in the South district, said, “Factors like sustained torture and consequent sudden provocation caused by the suspected accused to the victim, the time gap between when the victim was allegedly subjugated to the torture and when s/he ended his life are taken into account while investigating a suicide case. That is when a case under ‘Abetment to suicide’ is registered.”

In the suicide notes, the Bansals (a five-page note by BK Bansal and a two-page note by Yogesh) have alleged mental torture by top officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“Apart from the suicide note or audio-video content left behind by the victims, the handwriting of the victims and the call detail records of both the accused and victims are investigated,” added another senior police official posted at a Northeast police station. 

The top investigating agency had on the intervening night of July 16 and 17 arrested BK Bansal after he was caught accepting Rs 9 lakh from representatives of a pharmaceutical company that wanted to buy its way out of a probe for illicit business practices.
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