The Delhi police has accused the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders of having instigated Rajasthan farmer Gajender Singh, 41, into committing suicide and putting all sorts of obstacles in their efforts to rescue him.
It has also dismissed the magisterial probe ordered by the Delhi government saying that it has no jurisdiction in the matter. Under attack from AAP that the police did nothing to rescue the farmer during its rally at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, the police said in its First Information Report that neither the workers nor the leader cooperated with it.
"This is totally an incident where AAP workers and leaders instigated the man to commit suicide and they also did not pay heed to requests made by police," says the FIR.
The FIR was registered under Section 306 (Abetement of suicide), 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian penal Code in the Parliament Street police station.
The two-page FIR, filed on the complaint of S S Yadav, an inspector who was on duty at the rally venue, read "Around 12:50 pm, when AAP leaders were delivering speeches, he saw some people looking upward toward a tree and clapping where a man was waving a broom. I informed the control room on wireless and asked AAP workers and others not to instigate him and help us to bring him down."
But neither the AAP leaders on stage nor the workers on the ground cooperated, the FIR alleged. Yadav further said that he called up senior officials and again requested the AAP workers to help rescue Singh and also to make way for the rescue vehicle.
They continued to say that the police was against the AAP and was not allowing the party to go ahead with the rally.
"I saw that the man had tied a gamcha (towel) around his neck, the other end of which was tied to a branch of the tree. We called the fire brigade and requested them to reach the spot with a tall ladder.
"Meanwhile, the AAP workers continued to incite him by clapping which finally led him to hang himself from the tree," Yadav is quoted as saying in the FIR.
The FIR further said that some part of his body was still entangled in the branches.
"Some people were trying to climb the tree but we told them that the fire brigade has been called and the man will be rescued using their ladder. But they did not pay heed to our requests and climbed the tree. During their effort, the man fell flat on the ground," it said.
The police claimed that when they tried to take him to the RML hospital in a police vehicle, AAP workers blocked their way saying that he is a party worker and will be taken to hospital in their vehicle instead of giving clear passage to the police jeep.
"We then pushed them and rushed him to RML hospital where doctors declared him brought dead," it added. Earlier in his statement in the Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had seconded this version of the police suggesting that it took prompt steps to tackle the situation by calling the control room and ordering help from the fire brigade to bring him down from the tree.
The AAP, however, accused the minister of ‘lying’.
"The Home minister is lying and giving misleading statements. It is the Union government's ploy to target the AAP using the Delhi police," party spokesperson Sanjay Singh said.
"You (media) must have seen that we were requesting the police to rescue him. Please show the truth as to whether we have incited anyone. At least tell the truth in the floor of the house," said another AAP leader Kumar Vishwas.
