BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government today announced in the state Assembly to hand over to CBI an inquiry into the alleged suicide by Jabalpur-based Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College Dean Dr D K Shakalley.
Shakalley allegedly committed suicide by setting himself on fire at his official residence situated on the college campus on July 4.
The decision to hand over the probe to the CBI was announced by state Home Minister Babulal Gaur, while replying to a Call Attention Motion notice on the issue given by Sachin Yadav, Dr Govind Singh and Sunderlal Tiwari (all Congress members).
Yadav alleged that the incident took place under suspicious conditions as Dr Shakalley was on leave and was on the panel that was probing admissions taken through alleged irregularities in the government medical college on the basis of PMT exam, conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB). He said the incident took place when the dean's wife, after serving him tea in the morning, went for a walk. When she returned home, she found him lying on the floor with severe burn injuries.
Shakalley suffered 95 per cent burn injuries and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead. Yadav said that Shakalley had been on leave since last 20 days and was scheduled to retire after two months. Although he was on leave, higher officials called him to the office for doing various works, therefore, Shakalley's family members and those from the Junior Doctors Association suspect that it was a case of murder and not suicide, he said.
Replying to the notice, Gaur said that Shakalley was the Dean and Head of the Forensic Department. At the time of the incident, his wife was in the house lawn and a pet dog was also present inside the house. Then she went inside the house at around 7.30 am, she found him lying on the floor with severe burns. The post-mortem report attributed the death to "shock as a result of antemortem flame burns involving about 96 per cent of total body surface area," Gaur said.
Besides, the report of trachea test too found carbon soot particles which indicated that he died because of burn injuries, the minister said.
A five litre can containing 3.5 litre kerosene belonging to Shakalley's family was found at the residence and no suicide note was found, he said. Gaur said despite all these investigations, he can get the incident probed by any agency that the members want. When Yadav and other Congress members demanded a CBI probe into it, the minister promptly announced that the matter will be handed over to the CBI.