UP court summons former DGP, 6 other officials over doctor's death in jail 10 yrs back

A court here has summoned a former Uttar Pradesh DGP and six other police and jail officials over the death of a government doctor in prison a decade back, saying it should be tried as a case of murder.

Dr. Y S Sachan, a deputy chief medical officer, was a key accused in an alleged National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam, in which crores of rupees were siphoned from funds meant to upgrade health facilities.

Police also considered Sachan a key suspect in the murders of two chief medical officers, Vinod Kumar Arya and his successor B P Singh -- deaths which were then being linked to the "scam".

Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI) Samriddhi Mishra said there was enough material on record for a murder trial, citing the judicial inquiry report, the post-mortem report, medical expert opinion, and witnesses' statements collected during the Central Investigation Bureau probe. Earlier, the death was termed suicide.

The officials, including those retired, have now been summoned before the court on August 8.

The CBI court's order on July 11 comes on a plea of Sachan's wife Malti Sachan, over a decade after the doctor was found dead in Lucknow Jail on June 22, 2011, while in judicial custody.

The court has issued summons to the then Director General of Police Karamveer Singh, Additional DGP V K Gupta, and Inspector General (Lucknow Zone) Subesh Kumar Singh.

Also summoned are the then Lucknow Jailor B S Mukund, Deputy Jailor Sunil Kumar Singh, and staff members, Babu Ram Dubey and Mahindra Singh.

The doctor's body was found in an under-construction toilet in the jail. An FIR was then lodged at Gosaiganj police station on June 26, 2011, against unknown persons.

The judicial inquiry report prepared on July 11, 2011, declared that the death was a murder. Three days later, the High Court handed over the probe to the CBI.

After an investigation, CBI declared Dr. Sachan's death a suicide and filed a closure report on September 27, 2012. But his wife Malti Sachan challenged the CBI report.

The court accepted her application and directed the CBI to investigate further. However, the agency again filed a closure report on August 9, 2017.

The court on November 19, 2019, rejected the CBI's closure report and registered Malti Sachan's application as a complaint.

In the course of hearing on the complaint, she pleaded that the material already on record was sufficient to constitute an offense under section 302 (murder) read with section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.