Firing Outside Salman Khan's House: Punjab & Haryana HC Directs Second Post-Mortem Of Accused Who Died In Police Custody

The Punjab & Haryana High Court today, has directed the Punjab Government to conduct a "second postmortem" of the accused in the firing outside Salman Khan's house case, who is alleged to have committed suicide in Mumbai police's lock-up.

The Mumbai Police has claimed that deceased Anuj Kumar was one of the four accused arrested by the crime branch in connection with the firing outside the Mumbai residence of actor Salman Khan on April 14. Days after the arrest, Kumar alleged to have committed suicide in the police lock-up.

While noting  that "mother is apprehensive about death of her son" Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj said, "the present petition is disposed of, without commenting on the merits of the case and without impleading the State of Maharashtra (where a criminal case has already been registered and the investigation proceedings are pending) at this stage with a direction to the respondent-State to conduct a second postmortem examination of deceased Anuj Kumar."

Reeta Devi, a resident of Punjab's village states the reason for the urgent listing is that the body is lying at the house and she wants to conduct a fresh post-mortem.

The matter was listed before Justice Vinod S. Bhardhwaj on Wednesday after the request for urgent listing was allowed.

Kumar was booked under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and arrested on April 23. The plea states that the Mumbai Court had remanded him in police custody till May 08.

"As the son of the petitioner is died in police custody and there are so many leaders and influencial persons who gave the statement before death, the possibility of involvement of police can be there," the petition added.

It has been submitted that the earlier postmortem was conducted in Mumbai under the control of the same police force in whose custody Kumar died, and the police declared it a suicide. Therefore, for a proper and just investigation, the re-conduct of the postmortem is necessary.

After hearing the submissions, the Court said that "Given the peculiar facts of the present case where mother is apprehensive about death of her son, taking into consideration the arguments raised by the respective parties and noticing that no serious objection has been raised to the postmortem being reconducted by the State and also an order passed by this Court in CRM-M-23367-2021, titled as “Bhupinder Singh Vs. State of Punjab”, the plea is disposed of.

In light of the above, the Court directed the petitioner to hand over the body of her son Anuj Kumar in the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, on or before May 10 and shall appear before the Medical Superintendent of the Medical College for necessary compliance. 

Davinder Singh Khurana, Advocate, for the petitioners.

Harpriya Khaneka, DAG, Punjab.

Title: Reeta Devi v. State of Punjab & ors.

Click here to read/download the order