Chennai, Mar 16: Sadiq Batcha, businessman and a close aide of former Telecom Minister A Raja, died in mysterious circumstances here today and his wife claimed that he committed suicide "unable to cope with the pressure" of the probe in the case.
As the news of his death spread giving a dramatic twist to the spectrum probe, DMK's detractors suspected foul play in the death of Batcha with one of them saying he could have been "bumped off" because he "knew too much".
The 47-year-old Batcha, who was the Managing Director of Greenhouse Promoters, a firm under the scanner of the CBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the spectrum allocation scam, was said to have been found hanging from the roof of the bedroom of his house in Vannia Teynampet in South Chennai by his wife and his driver around 1300 hours.
The two rushed him to Apollo Hospital where doctors declared him "brought dead".
"At about 1.20 PM Sadiq Batch was brought to Apollo Hospital by his wife Bhanu. Doctors declared him brought dead to the Apollo hospital. The family says he had hanged himself," Chennai Police Commissioner T Rajendran told reporters.
The body has been taken to Government Royapettah Hospital for post mortem, he said but declined to get into the issue whether it coule be a case of murder. The postmortem will be done tomorrow.
"I won't speculate on that," he said when asked whether it could be a case of murder.
Bhanu, accompanied by a relative, drove to Teynampet police station in the evening and filed a complaint, the details of which were not not release.
While she avoided the waiting media, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity that Bhanu said in her complaint that she and her driver had seen Batcha's body hanging from the roof in the bedroom of their house.
"He (Batcha) could not not cope with the pressure of the probe," the official said quoting from his wife's statement.
Batcha was reportedly scheduled to fly to Delhi this afternoon for questioning by CBI, which said that his death would have no no bearing on the probe in the 2G scam.
"There has been no no pressure from CBI on Batcha. He was cooperating with CBI. The development is unexpected but it will not not affect the investigation in the ongoing 2G spectrum scam as all the evidence has already been recorded," the CBI spokesperson said in New Delhi.
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who has moved courts for involving him in the probe into the spectrum scam, said he was not not surprised by the development.
"I would say that the Supreme Court has monitored the petitions we have filed which is rocking the whole capital. Therefore, it is an inevitable prospect. Some murders or suicides can take place," he told reporters in Delhi.
Noted political analyst Cho Ramaswamy, a strong critic of the DMK to which Raja belongs, said the 2G case is getting murkier.
"It could very well be a murder. Perhaps, the man knew too much. He was scheduled to travel to Delhi today. Why should it happen to him. I do not not believe this," he said.
The CBI and Enforcement Agency had conducted searches at his official and residential premises here in December. He was called for questioning four times since then.
Both CBI and ED were probing the possibility of his firms acting as a front for the former minister.
Both the agencies have questioned him earlier in connection with the case. Batcha, hailing from Perambalur, place of Raja's political activity, rose from humble origins to create assets worth several hundred crores of rupees in a short span of time.
Incidentally, Raja's wife M A Parameswari, was a director of Green House Promoters. Raja's other relatives are also reported to be associated with the firm.
Batcha owned several other firms, and agencies are examining if his firms could have acted as a front for possible kickbacks in the scam, the sources said.
As he heads several real estate firms, the agencies are trying to find out if there was any money trail related to them in the scam.
Shahid Balwa, MD of DB Realty, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail after being arrested by the CBI in connection with the 2G scam probe, has told the agency that he knew Batcha for the past few years.
Sources said the agencies are focusing on the financial dealings of Batcha to find out how a company that began operating a few years back, went on to to create assets worth several hundred crores of rupees in just a short span of time.
In Delhi, CBI today said the death of Sadiq Batcha will have no bearing on the probe in the 2G spectrum scam as "all the evidences have already been recorded."
"There has been no pressure from CBI on Batcha. He was cooperating with the CBI. The development is unexpected but it will not affect the investigation in the ongoing 2G spectrum scam as all the evidences have already been recorded," CBI spokesperson said.
"The demise of Sadiq Batcha, Managing Director of M/s Green House promoter PVT Ltd, Chennai and reportedly associate of the then telecom minister A Raja, is unexpected," the agency said in a brief statement.
The spokesperson said the official and residential premises of Batcha were searched on December 15, 2010 and he had been called for questioning four times since then with the last one being on February 24, 2011.
While the spokesperson did not specify the future course of action, sources in the agency said that they would be informing the Supreme Court about the development. PTI
