Mumbai: The post-mortem of the deceased accused in Salman Khan residence firing case, Anuj Thapan, was held at Sir J.J. Hospital on Thursday. However, the report is yet to come out. The Crime Branch had arrested Thapan on charges of supplying weapons to the assailants who fired outside Salman Khan's house.
According to a police officer, the post-mortem of Thapan has been conducted on camera. Thapan's brother has departed from Punjab for Mumbai and is expected to arrive in Mumbai on Friday.
The body of Thapan has been placed in the mortuary of JJ Hospital. It took about 2 hours to complete the post-mortem process. The post-mortem team included the head of the post-mortem department of JJ Hospital, a magistrate, a police officer, and other relevant officials. The entire post-mortem process was videographed.
According to information received from a Mumbai police officer, an accidental death report (ADR) has been filed at Azad Maidan police station in this case, and the matter has been forwarded to the State CID for further investigation. Magistrate inquiry will also be conducted in this case.
A police officer explained that whenever a suspect dies in police custody, an investigation is conducted under sections 174 (inquiring suicide or suspicious death) and 176 (provides for separate Judicial investigation in case of death) of the CrPC.
After arresting Anuj Thapan, the Crime Branch kept him in the lockup at the Mumbai Police headquarters. Although CCTV cameras are used to monitor the place all the time, despite this Anuj committed suicide by hanging himself in the lockup. Due to which this case seems to be getting more complicated. There are a total of 5 CCTV cameras installed in the Crime Branch lockup where Thapan was kept.
There were a total of 4 guards outside the lockup. At 12.15pm, Anuj left the lockup and went to the washroom and did not come out for a long time. When Thapan did not come out for a long time, a guard on duty went to see and found that Thapan had hanged himself. There are a total of 4 cells inside the lockup, of which Thapan's cell is at the end and next to it is the washroom.
Thapan tore a part of the bed sheet and used it to commit suicide. A police officer said that the decision on what action to take in this case will be taken only after the CID report.
Anuj Thapan was a resident of Sukhchain village in Fazilka district of Punjab. The village sarpanch, Manoj Kumar Godara, speaking to the media, said that Anuj did not commit suicide, but died due to torture in police custody. He said, "This is not suicide, it's murder. An investigation should be conducted by an agency outside Maharashtra.
Anuj's brother Abhishek Thapan told the media that they come from a poor family. He said, "My brother Anuj was a truck cleaner. He did not commit suicide but was murdered. I demand justice for him."
