The son of a bureaucrat, who is under arrest in a corruption case, has died of a gunshot wound in the Indian city of Chandigarh on Saturday, June 25, according to reports.
Police say the deceased, 27-year-old Kartik Popli, son of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli, shot himself dead with his father’s licensed pistol.
However, Kartik’s family is alleging he was murdered by state vigilance sleuths.
The incident reportedly took place when a team of Punjab vigilance bureau brought the accused IAS officer to his residence in Sector 11 for a search on Saturday.
"The vigilance team was here at Sanjay Popli's residence and his son Kartik Popli shot and killed himself," said Kuldeep Chahal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Chandigarh.
"The Vigilance team reached here (IAS Sanjay Popli's house) for enquiry and heard a gunshot. After verification, they realized his son has shot himself with his licensed gun," he added.
But Kartik’s mother, who has not been identified, said the vigilance team murdered their only son.
"Bhagwant Mann (Punjab Chief Minister) has killed our son. The vigilance team was here in our residence and they killed my son," she said.
"The Vigilance people took Kartik upstairs and when I went up they were mentally torturing my son."
"The Vigilance officials were pressuring us and they were even torturing my domestic help to give false statements in support of the case they have registered. My 27-year-old son is gone. He was a brilliant lawyer. They have snatched him," she said.
"I want justice. I will move court," the wailing mother said, repetedly crying "my son has been killed."
The police however, claims that Kartik killed himself on the first floor of his house when the investigators came to search the home for evidence in connection with his father’s corruption case..
"It is a case of suicide. We have started an investigation. We will record the statements of family members of Kartik, who accused Punjab vigilance officials of having shot him," a senior Chandigarh Police officer said, the Indian Express reports.
A neighbour and family friend of Popli family, alleged that "Kartik Popli was detained for hours," Tribune India reports
Punjab Congress party president, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring expressed his shock over Kartik's death.
"Shocking! Profound condolences and sympathies for Sanjay Popli who lost his son Kartik under tragic circumstances. Making law take its own course and dramatising the process for vested interests that cost a precious life is unpardonable," he tweeted.
Sanjay Popli was arrested for allegedly demanding bribe to clear tenders for laying sewerage pipeline in Punjab's Nawanshahr. He was to be presented in court today.
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