UT Adviser orders magisterial probe

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1

A day after a 37-year-old Home Guards volunteer, Mohan Joshi, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in a forest area in Mani Majra, the UT Adviser today ordered a magisterial probe into the case.

The probe was ordered following a protest staged by the victim’s kin, who placed the body of the victim at the Sector 19 police station, alleging that the police and the director of the Le Corbusier Centre, where he worked as a security guard, were harassing him by trying to falsely implicate him in a theft case that took place a week ago.

Mohan Joshi was missing since Monday afternoon. His body was found hanging from a tree yesterday. A suicide note was also found from his pocket, which stated that he was innocent and did not want to go to jail.

The victim’s family had alleged that the director of the centre had shunted Mohan out of the job, blaming him for the theft of the heritage furniture. A DDR was lodged at the Sector 19 police station regarding the theft on September 24. Deepika Gandhi, director, Le Corbusier Centre, however, denied the allegations. She said a police complaint was given by her without naming any individual. “Nobody was named in the police complaint as everyone is under suspicion,” she said.

Soon after the postmortem was conducted at the GMSH, Sector 16, the victim’s kin took the body to the Sector 19 police station and staged a protest there.

The victim’s younger brother, Rajendra Joshi, alleged that the police had called his brother for questioning and were harassing him. “The police were harassing my brother and asking him to admit that he had committed the theft,” he said.

The SHOs of the Mani Majra police station and the Industrial Area police station reached the spot followed by ASP (East) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu and the SHO of the Sector 19 police station.

Bachan Singh, president of the Kumaon Sabha who was leading the protest, said the agitation was called off after UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev marked a magisterial probe into the incident. “We have been assured of a fair probe into the allegations levelled by the victim’s family,” he said.