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The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Mukta Gupta has taken serious note of a death case that has come before her in which a jeweller supposedly committed suicide from the top floor of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The dead man’s mother has claimed in her petition that the DRI officials had forcibly taken her son from his shop to the office, tortured her and had demanded Rs 1.5 crore as bribe. The man, however, died from the torture and a suicide case was created.
The DRI had, in fact, issued a press release, talking about the “suicide”.
The court on Friday (April 27) was told by Delhi standing counsel Rahul Mehra that CCTV footage from the shop from where the deceased Gaurav Gupta was taken and from the DRI office and other places had been taken and preserved.
As per Delhi Police status reports the DVR of the CCTV records has been preserved. The state said that a judicial enquiry has been instituted by Swati Gupta, Metropolitan Magistrate. The court was also informed that a medical board had been constituted (of AIIMS) and autopsy was underway.
The TV camera footage Dean Dayal Upadhyay Bhawan has already been seized.
Backgrounder
On Thursday (April 26) a PIL in the court said that the jeweller jumped to his death from the building of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), where he had gone on Wednesday in connection with an alleged gold smuggling charge. The mentioning was done on Thursday, with the listing to be made soon.
While the PIL (made by the jeweller’s mother) seeks that a post-mortem to be done by a competent team of doctors of the AIIMS, it also seeks to preserve the body of her son till pendency of the PIL.
The allegation is that the DRI officials asked for Rs 1.5 crore from the brother of the deceased Gaurav Gupta to allegedly hush up the enquiry, but he refused to pay such a huge amount.
On Thursday petitioner counsel senior advocate Kirti Utpal said that the DRI had made a defence in advance, refusing to accept that they had called Gaurav Gupta.
The counsel said the following: “They don’t know how he had jumped. We seek to preserve the dead body till post mortem. The CBI shall register an FIR in this matter.”
The bench asked: “Where is the body?”
The counsel said: “Safdarjung Hospital.”
The bench asked: “When was the press release given?”
The respondent counsel said: “This morning.”
The bench asked: “When did he jump?”
The respondents said: “At 12 noon.”
He was then taken to Safdarjung Hospital, where the body still is.
The bench ordered as follows: “The case of the petitioner is that on April 25, 2018 the office of the DRI conducted a raid on the shop of the petitioner’s son, Gaurav Gupta. After the raid they had taken him to the DRI office. The petitioner’s case is that they received a call from the DRI office asking for Rs 1.5 crore. If given, they won’t torture her son.
“Later brother of Gaurav Gupta went to the office of the DRI where he was informed that he has been shifted to a hospital on Lodhi Road. When he reached there he saw bruise marks and torture marks on his body. After some time he received a call from teh DRI but no information related to death was given. They came to know about the death through a newspaper article about a death in the DRI office under suspicious circumstances.”
The court issued notice to the DRI (respondents 1) and to respondents 2 (the state). The counsel of the petitioner has handed over the copy of the press release issued by the DRI.
The DRI has been given a day to file its status report.
The court also directed the DCP South District to get a medical board constituted at AIIMS to conduct the autopsy on the body of Gaurav Gupta. The court has also asked for the preservation of CCTV footage in the office, DRI and Shop, if available or any area near the DRI office.
—India Legal Bureau