NEW DELHI: The 25-year-old farmer, who died after his tractor overturned during the tractor rally on January 26, did not suffer any gunshot wounds, the police departments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh told the Delhi High Court. The police of the two states have made the submission relying upon the post-mortem and x-ray reports, given by the District Hospital at Rampur in UP, which prima facie state that “there was no gunshot injury in the body of the deceased”.
Delhi Police has said that according to the post-mortem report the young farmer died due to a head injury as a result of the accident. The submissions have been made in response to a plea by the deceased’s grandfather Hardeep Singh claiming that the victim suffered gunshot injuries to his head.
The petition, filed through advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee, has sought a court-monitored SIT probe into the death of the young farmer. The high court on Friday listed the matter for further hearing on March 4. The Delhi Police said that the deceased was driving the tractor at high speed and the vehicle overturned after hitting the barricades.
It further said the CCTV footage of the incident showed that the police personnel were running away for safety from the speeding tractor and that none of them fired upon the vehicle. The UP police stated that no FIR has been registered by it in connection with the death as claimed by the petitioner.
Grover, on the last date of hearing, had told the court that the way Delhi Police has conducted itself in the matter “does not inspire a shred of confidence”. Grover had also told the court that according to a UK-based pathologist, who saw the footage and also perused the postmortem report, the injuries on the victim were consistent with at least one or two gunshot wounds.