Suspected murder of doctor rocks House

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 1

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today informed the House that an independent and impartial probe was being conducted into the mysterious death of a doctor, whose body was found floating in a well near Jwalamukhi town of Kangra district.

He was replying to the issue raised by Dehra MLA Ravinder Singh Ravi by moving Calling Attention Motion under rule 62.

Ravi, while raising the issue, said that a doctor identified as Rohit Sharma (25) of Bhati village in Dehra area was found dead under mysterious circumstances and his body was recovered from a well on the Jwalamukhi- Dehra road. “A controversy occurred when the SHO established it a case of suicide, while the investigation officer (IO) held it as a murder,” said Ravi.

Ravi said the fact that froth was coming out of the deceased’s mouth when his body was found and his fist was tightly closed were enough to indicate that it was murder. Hence, an impartial probe should be conducted into it.

In his reply on the issue, the Chief Minister said the vice- president of Vairu Panchayat in Jawalmukhi area informed the local police station about the dead body on October 14, 2015. “The deceased was identified as Rohit Sharma and no marks of external injuries were found on his body,” said the Chief Minister adding that an FIR under section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered in this regard.

The CM said the post-mortem examination conducted at the first referral unit Dehra indicated no external injury while the report of the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory was awaited.

On the complaint of Kuldeep Kumar, father of deceased, on 17 October the FIR was converted into that of murder (Section 302) of IPC. The CM said the complainant met the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), law and order on November 28 and an Special Investigation Team was constituted to investigate into the matter on the same day.