NEW DELHI: An additional secretary-rank officer in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs BK Bansal, who was out on bail in an alleged corruption case, and his 25-year-old son Yogesh committed suicide in their apartment in Delhi alleging “harassment and mental torture by senior CBI officials” in two separate suicide notes, two months after Bansal’s wife and daughter hanged themselves to death saying they had felt humiliated by CBI raids.
The case registered by CBI has left the entire family wiped out. Bansal’s relatives and neighbours demanded CBI officials be tried for abetting suicide. They said Bansal was called to the agency headquarters on Lodhi Road on Tuesday for questioning.
Delhi police, however, is yet to register a case on the basis of the two suicide notes in which they allegedly blamed “some top CBI officials for harassment”. Instead, they sent copies of the notes to the CBI for further examination, raising a big question mark on investigation in the suicide case.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Rishi Pal said there were allegations against few CBI officials. “We have sent copies of the suicide note to the CBI for further examination,” he said. He declined to divulge the nature of harassment mentioned in the two notes and also whether the father-son duo mentioned the names of CBI officials.
On asked whether police have registered an abetment case, Pal said: “We have started inquest proceedings and no case has been registered yet.”
Bansal, director general in the corporate affairs ministry, was due to retire next month. He was from Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) and was arrested by the CBI on the charge of receiving Rs 9 lakh bribes for extending favours to a Mumbai-based firm.
A preliminary probe revealed that the last visitor to Bansal’s flat was a priest who had been performing puja for the family over the past two months after Bansal’s arrest. “The priest told us that Bansal called him on Monday evening and gave him Rs 2000 and said he and his son would go out for 15 days,” said a police official.
Around 8.40 am the maid Rachna found the main door of their first floor flat unlocked and walked in. She raised an alarm after finding Bansal hanging from the ceiling while Yogesh hanging in another room.
Senior police officials were tightlipped about the exact content of the two purported suicide notes left by Bansal and his son.
Sources in police said there were two separate handwritten suicide notes – five pages suicide note left by Bansal and two page note left by son Yogesh.
“Both stapled their photos on suicide note which also had phone numbers of their relatives. There were five photo copies of the two suicide notes, one copy of which kept inside the three bedroom flat and two in the dining hall,” said a senior police official.
He said both Bansal and his son allegedly blamed some top CBI officials for harassment.
In a statement the CBI said: “We are deeply saddened to know the unfortunate demise of B.K.Bansal and his son today. The matter is being looked into by the local police.”
Neighbours said Bansal and his son hardly interacted with others in the housing complex. The family's living standard was simple and they owned a Maruti Zen, which was maintained by Yogesh.
“Bansal was being called at CBI headquarters routinely even after he got bail. We learnt his son was also called several times and was very depressed after his mother and sister’s death,” said S Batra, a resident of the apartment.
Yogesh was into the property business,
It was in the same apartment Bansal’s wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, had hanged themselves on July 19, leaving behind two purported suicide notes that said they felt “humiliated” by CBI raids. The notes had also said “no one should be responsible” for their death.
While granting bail to Bansal in July to attend the last rites of his wife and daughter, special judge Gurdeep Singh had said.
“These are not conventional crimes like murder or rape. Earlier, the CBI used to not arrest accused in such cases. The evidences are mostly documentary in nature and the accused are public servants. The agency needs to rethink whether it is necessary to arrest in such cases,”
CBI said Bansal was dealing with matters related to alleged violations by the Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company and had demanded a bribe for not recommending a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into allegations that it had duped 24,000 investors of Rs 176 crore.
Bansal is alleged to have asked for Rs 50 lakh but the amount was later scaled down to Rs 20 lakh following negotiations. CBI had claimed Bansal had already got Rs 11 lakh as first installment.
