LUCKNOW: In a dramatic turn of events, Abhijit Yadav, 22-year-old son of Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) chairman Ramesh Yadav, was found dead in mysterious circumstances at their official residence in Dar-ul-Shafa under Hazratganj police station on Sunday morning.
The district police, smelling a foul play, forcibly sent the body for post-mortem examination and the suspicion proved right when the autopsy report mentioned 'strangulation' as the cause of Abhijit's death on late Sunday night. Abhijit, a BSc I student, was Ramesh Yadav's younger son from his second wife, Meera Yadav. His elder son, Abhishek, from the first wife, lives at his native village in Etah.
On the fateful day, both Abhijeet and his mother were at Yadav's official flat at 137, New B Block, Dar-ul-Shafa in the heart of state capital. Ramesh Yadav, a Samajwadi Party MLC, has two establishments --one at his ancestral village in Etah and the other in Lucknow. Yadav was not in Lucknow when the incident took place. The suspicion of cops grew when the family insisted on cremation even in the absence of the father of deceased and was not prepared to send the body for autopsy.
The family was so much against the post-mortem examination that they had almost rushed the body for cremation, but were intercepted by the Hazaratganj police on way to cremation ground. The police then took the body to King George's Medical University for autopsy to ascertain the reason for sudden and mysterious death of Abhijit. "The post-mortem could be conducted only on the intervention of the highest police authority," revealed a senior officer of the Lucknow police.
According to police sources, on Saturday night Abhishek had gone out for some work. Next morning his mother Meera found him lying unconscious and unresponsive on and she informed her elder son.As per the version of Meera Yadav given to police, Abhijeet was a habitual alcoholic. "Around 3 am in the morning, he complained of chest pain. I applied a balm over his chest and also head and then slept in the same room. However, around 7 am when I woke up, I found him kying unconscious," she added.
"I found his body cold and called my elder son Abhishek," said wailing Meera Yadav.Abhishek, in turn, told police that he got the information from his mother Meera and reached the flat around 10 am. "Abhijit was lying dead on the bed," he told to the police.Notably, the police got the information about the incident through police control room following which senior police officials, including SSP Lucknow, and a team of scientist from Forensic Science Lab (FSL) reached the spot for investigations and collection of evidence. A unit of crime branch also reached the spot to investigate into the case.
According to SHO Hazratganj, the family was not ready to get the autopsy done and was rushing the body for cremation. "Someone called up at police control room and we could intercept the funeral procession near NBRI. The SSP Lucknow had also reached the spot and ordered for an autopsy," Radha Raman Singh, SHO Hazratganj said.The apprehension about the foul play proved right when the autopsy showed that Abhijeet died of strangulation. Besides, there were injury marks on his head. Police said that on the basis of the PM report, they were in the process of filing an FIR for murder against unidentified persons.