Date:04/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/04/stories/2009070461320300.htm

New Delhi

NDMC inspector dies at Forensic Science Laboratory

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: An enforcement inspector with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) arrested by the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Government in October last year for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from a man running a kiosk in Connaught Place died on Friday while being taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Rohini here for a voice identification test. His relatives alleged that he was tortured by the ACB officials.

Virender Kaushik, 49, was arrested along with 16 other employees of the NDMC, the Delhi Government’s Labour Department and the Delhi police.

The police said that he along with other accused Lalit, Naresh and Prem Chand besides Delhi Development Authority assistant director Ved Prakash Gautam -- who was arrested on Thursday for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from two supervisors to issue orders for cancellation of their transfers -- were being taken to the forensic lab by the ACB sleuths for voice identification. A “panch” also accompanied them.

“While Ved Prakash wanted to get his voice identification done, the others had contested that the voices in the sting operations were not theirs and hence they wanted to get the voice identification done,” said an ACB official, adding that request letters of the NDMC employees were forwarded to FSL.

The FSL fixed Friday for the test. Accordingly, the four accused along with the DDA official reached the ACB office on Friday morning. They were then taken to FSL. Virender had barely entered the building when he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Saroj Hospital where doctors could not revive him, the police said. The police claim to have obtained the footage of a closed-circuit television camera installed at FSL that has captured the entire sequence of events.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer Delhi) Atul Katiyar said: “Prima facie there does not seem to be any foul play in the case, but we are investigating all possibilities. The post-mortem report will establish the cause of death.”

Virender’s shocked relatives have, however, alleged that he was tortured to death by the ACB sleuths.