Sachan was murdered but can’t spot the killers,concludes CBI

The CBI was ordered to investigate the case and submit a report in three months by the Allahabad High Court on July 14. The deadline ends next week.

In the last three months,the CBI has questioned jail officials and many others; ordered several forensic investigations; studied the cellphone records of several people,but all it has is some suspects and little clinching evidence.

Dr Sachan,who was an accused in the sensational murders of former CMOs Dr V K Arya and Dr B P Singh,was found dead in a toilet on the unlit first floor of Lucknow jail on the night of June 22.

While the government dismissed it as suicide,Dr Sachan’s family alleged that he had been killed to prevent him from making crucial disclosures regarding involvement of influential people in the two murders and the financial scandals in the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission in UP.

CBI sources said forensic as well as medical experts had rubbished the suicide theory on the basis of available evidence,like the postmortem report which said that Dr Sachan bled to death from the several deep cuts found on his body.

Experts have told the CBI that the cuts could not be self-inflicted,nor could these have been inflicted with a half razor blade that was found on the spot. Dr Sachan was first killed and then hanged from the ventilator grill of the toilet using his belt to make it look like suicide,the experts have told CBI.

The investigators had lifted fingerprints from the ventilator,but these did not match with the samples taken from jail employees.

The scrutiny of the cellphone call details of three jail employees,including a deputy jailor,head warden and a warden whose conduct was found suspicious,did not yield any clue.

They were interrogated extensively regarding their suspicious activities and possible links with hardcore criminals and some politicians,but the agency drew a blank.

Interestingly,the jail officials told that Dr Sachan had left a hand-written “suicide note” which they had handed over to a senior jail official. Asked for this note,the jail official gave CBI a photocopy and said he had handed the original to a Home Department official. The CBI has still not received the original hand note.

The CBI,however,finds it strange. According to the agency,if Dr Sachan had really left a suicide note,then why was it not made official record of the case? A CBI official pointed out that Lucknow police lodged an FIR of murder only on June 26,which was four days after Dr Sachan’s death,on getting a complaint from his wife Malti Devi. Also,it started investigation as late as July 8. Until then,the case was nobody’s responsibility.

A forensic team which visited the spot after about 12 hours of the incident reportedly told the CBI that the scene of crime had been disturbed,sources said.