Statements of former SP, DM among eight accused recorded in Delkar death case

Were only performing our duty, no intention to harass Parliamentarian, say officials

Mohan Delkar (File)

Mumbai police have recorded the statements of eight persons, including the former Superintendent of Police, District Magistrate and deputy District Magistrate of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH), who have been named in the FIR filed in the death of the Union Territory’s (UT) MP Mohan Delkar. In their statement to police, all the eight accused have stated that they did not take action against Delkar or his close associates with an intention to harass him but were just performing their duty.

The summons were issued to them in the end of January, almost a year after 58-year-old Delkar, a seven-term Member of Parliament, was found dead in a room at a hotel in Mumbai’s Marine Drive area on February 22, 2021.

On March 9, 2021, Mumbai Police registered an FIR in the case for offences punishable under section 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with provisions of The SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

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The FIR, filed by Delkar’s son Abhinav, 30, alleged that the Parliamentarian had been under pressure for a year prior to his death, adding that DNH administration was continuously harassing him and behaving disrespectfully with him to gain control over Delkar’s college – SSR College of Pharmacy and Management – and to prevent him from contesting further elections.

The complaint was filed against Praful Khoda Patel, the UT’s Administrator, Sandeep Singh, the then District Collector, Sharad Darade, then Superintendent of Police, Apurva Sharma, then Deputy Collector, Manasvi Jain, Sub Divisional Officer, Manoj Patel, Police Inspector (Silvassa), Rohit Yadav (DNH administrative department official), Fattesingh Chauhan (political leader) and Dilip Patel (Talathi of Silvassa) for allegedly having abetted the suicide by misusing their posts and powers and intentionally conspiring and planning against Delkar.

Since the time of registration of the FIR, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was set up by Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to probe the suicide matter, have made multiple visits to DNH and have been collecting evidences against the nine persons booked in the case.

“Following this, in the last week of January, everyone besides administrator Patel were summoned for questioning after which they approached the High Court against it. The court…directed them to appear before the investigators after which their statements were recorded,” said a police officer.

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Without divulging the date and details on the content of their statements, police said their statements were recorded in the course of two days.

The investigators have further said that all the eight accused have refuted the allegations made against them.

“Of the eight accused, seven are high-ranking government officers and in their statements they have claimed that they did not take action against Delkar with an intention to harass him but were only doing their jobs,” said an officer.

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