A delegation of Sikh community on Friday met the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner and demanded the post mortem report of Harpal Singh Thapper who died under mysterious circumstances in judicial custody at Ghaghidih Central Jail on July 16.
Operator of a shelter home under Mother Teresa Welfare Trust, 46-year-old Thapper was arrested along with three others on June 16 for allegedly molesting minor girls of the Telco-based shelter home. On July 17, he was found critically ill at the central jail and soon succumbed to the injuries at MGM Medical College Hospital.
Injury marks on Thapper's body, especially in the legs and back, have made family members suspect it to be a case of murder.
The post mortem was done by a medical board on July 18 under videography in presence of executive magistrate, Chandra Deo Prasad after being deputed by the deputy commissioner.
Led by Shailender Singh, chairman of Jharkhand State Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, the delegates pressed the deputy commissioner, Suraj Kumar for the post mortem report as Thapper's family members suspect it to be a case murder.
In a petition handed over to the deputy commissioner, the delegates have said that the officials concerned seem to have been concealing the post mortem report of Thapper in the name of investigation.
"Thapper must have succumbed to the injuries sustained in Ghaghidih Central Jail where he was lodged. Though over 12 days have elapsed since the post mortem was done in a medical board, the authority concerned did not reveal anything about the findings. They are trying to hush up the case in the name of investigation," said Shailender Singh to The Telegraph Online.
Shailender Singh said they demanded the post mortem report as the family members and others want to know the truth behind Thapper's death which can be known from the autopsy report.
The deputy commissioner asked the delegation to obtain the certified copy of the post mortem report from the court where he had sent it for necessary action.
Significantly, Thapper's widow Pushpa Rani Tirkey who was also arrested in the case and is presently lodged in Ghaghidih Central Jail has already demanded a CBI enquiry into the custodial death of her husband.
