Farmers protest farmers death Republic Day violence Delhi Police statement

The Delhi Police on Friday informed the high court that the death of a farmer whose tractor overturned during the tractor rally on Republic Day was due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of head injury, and not due to any gunshot injury. The police stated this in the status report filed in a petition moved by deceased Navreet Singh's grandfather seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the death. He asserted that Navreet Singh was allegedly shot by the policemen, due to which he lost control of the tractor.

Navreet Singh died on January 26 after his tractor overturned after ramming into police barricades during the tractor rally. The accident was captured on a CCTV camera.

"As per the opinion of the panel of doctors which conducted the post-mortem, the cause of death is shock and hemorrhage as a result of ante-mortem head injury. The death is not due to any gunshot injury," the status report stated.

A panel of three doctors, namely Mohammad Zubair, Dashrath Singh and Manoj Kumar Shukla, conducted the post-mortem at 2 a.m. on January 27.

"The doctors did an X-ray before conducting the post-mortem. The X-Ray plates prima facie showed that there was no gunshot injury in the body of the deceased," the police told the court.

It is pertinent to mention here that the doctors who conducted the post-mortem were medical experts and there is no substantive ground to question their performance or duty, the police added.

The plea by Navreet Singh's grandfather Hardeep Singh had sought for a court-appointed and monitored Special Investigation Team probe. It also sought the SIT to file periodic status reports to ensure a time-bound, court-monitored investigation.

The petition said the forensic experts, who reviewed the description of injuries in the post-mortem report, independently opined that the injuries were consistent with firearm or gunshot wounds and could not have resulted from the tractor overturning.