The Delhi Police on Friday informed the high
court that the death of a farmer whose tractor overturned during the tractor
rally on Republic Day was due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of head
injury, and not due to any gunshot injury.
The police stated this in the status report filed in a petition moved by
deceased Navreet Singh's grandfather seeking court-monitored SIT probe into the
death. He asserted that Navreet Singh was allegedly shot by the policemen, due
to which he lost control of the tractor.
Navreet Singh died on January 26 after- the police said- his tractor overturned
after ramming into police barricades during the tractor rally. The accident was
captured on CCTV camera.
"As per the opinion of the panel of doctors which conducted the
post-mortem, the cause of death is shock and hemorrhage as a result of
ante-mortem head injury. The death is not due to any gunshot injury," the
status report stated.
A panel of three doctors, namely Mohammad Zubair, Dashrath Singh and Manoj
Kumar Shukla, conducted the post-mortem at 2 a.m. on January 27.
"The doctors did an X-ray before conducting the post-mortem. The X-Ray
plates prima facie showed that there was no gunshot injury in the body of the
deceased," the police told the court.
It is pertinent to mention here that the doctors who conducted the post-mortem
were medical experts and there is no substantive ground to question their
performance or duty, the police added.
The plea by Navreet Singh's grandfather Hardeep Singh had sought for a court
appointed and monitored Special Investigation Team probe. It also sought the
SIT to file periodic status reports to ensure time-bound, court-monitored
investigation.
The petition said the forensic experts, who reviewed the description of
injuries in the post-mortem report, independently opined that the injuries were
consistent with firearm or gunshot wounds and could not have resulted from the
tractor overturning.
Read More: Navreet's family refuses to accept police claims, grandfather alleges grandson shot dead