Farmer's death: AAP government delaying post mortem, accuses Delhi Police

NEW DELHI: Intensifying its confrontation with the Delhi government on the alleged suicide of a farmer, Delhi Police has accused it of trying to delay the post mortem of the deceased and blamed AAP workers of instigating him to take the extreme step.

In a report to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Delhi Police said the crowd at the rally at Jantar Mantar on April 22 clapped and cheered when 41-year-old Gajendra Singh was atop a tree.

The police said the SDM of Chanakyapuri wanted to delay autopsy of the farmer's body but as he could not produce any official order for delaying the procedure, police went ahead with it.

The charges, however, were strongly refuted by District Magistrate (New Delhi) Sanjay Kumar who is carrying out a magisterial inquiry into the case.

"Why would we want to delay the post-mortem? In fact when we reached the hospital, police refused to recognise our authority. They didn't even reveal the name of the farmer to us. I don't know why they are saying this," Kumar told PTI.

The police had submitted the report to Singh on April 23 based on which he had made a statement on the issue in Parliament also.

Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi today sought to play down the matter, claiming that it was a "preliminary report" and its contents were "not relevant" today.

"Whenever there is an important incident, we give a preliminary report to the Home Minister. As the name suggests, it is an initial report, so what went in that report or what did not is not relevant today," he said.