Sachan case: Contradictory statements fuel doubts

LUCKNOW: Certain strange developments and unexpected statements from some quarters have deepened the mystery over the death of deputy chief medical officer Dr Yogendra Singh Sachan. Most of these developments occurred after the death of Dr Sachan.
While most of them seem to be deliberate, few others can be given the benefit of doubt.
Dr Sachan was found dead on June 22 evening in the toilet of Lucknow jail.But he was missing since morning. Why was his absence neither reported nor spotted?
Dr Sachan was spotted in a sitting position in an unused toilet on the first floor of the hospital by jail guards. Jail officials brought Dr Sachan out in the corridor. Benefit of doubt can be given as the reason cited was that they wanted to look into chance of revival of Dr Sachan, if any and the toilet did not have any lights.
After the police arrived at the spot, a piece of paper, which was said to be a likely suicide note was, however, not brought on record. Instead a senior jail official kept the same in the pocket. A clear case of deliberate move!
Later talking to mediapersons outside the jail gate, IG Prisons, VK Gupta had said, “Prima-facie, it looked to be a case of suicide.” The same theory was further boasted by as senior official in the state government as cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh during a press conference. He had also said, “Prima-facie it looked to be a case of suicide.” It is hard to understand why such inference was drawn by the officials.
A day after the incident, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team found a half-blade, a few metres away from the spot. The half-blade had blood stains on one side. Experts had said injuries found in Dr Sachan’s body according to the postmortem report cannot be inflicted by such a half-blade. So, was the half-blade deliberately kept there to distract investigators? A deliberate move again.
A few days back, investigators have also found a surgical knife. The knife could have been used to inflict injuries on Dr Sachan and so the same had been sent for examination. Why two sharp-edge weapons found near the spot of Dr Sachan’s death. The mystery has further deepened. If Dr Sachan’s death is assumed to be that of murder, the first question that arises was Dr Sachan tranquilised before being killed? The question arises as no one came out with a statement of hearing Dr Sachan’s voice even when so serious injuries were found to be inflicted on his body. But this answer will remain a mystery may be forever, as viscera was not preserved after the postmortem examination. This is despite again huge claims made by Shashank Shekhar Singh during a press conference that viscera have been preserved. One wonders why viscera was not preserved, when medical experts claim that only viscera could have thrown light on the fact that whether Dr Sachan was tranquilised or not?
With so many confusions either deliberately or coincidently further deepening the mystery, there is seems to be answer on to how Dr Sachan reached the first floor of the jail hospital.
Investigators will have a tough time to conclusively find answers to some more questions like: How did Dr Sachan reach at the unused toilet on the first floor of the jail hospital? If it is a suicide, was Dr Sachan aware of the unused toilet on the first floor? If he was murdered, how many persons executed the crime? If no sedative was given to Dr Sachan, it won't have been possible for only one person to execute the crime. Answers to such questions would be hard to get, as the toilet had a pool of blood where Dr Sachan was first spotted which could have covered the resistance mark(s) if any.
The police, meanwhile, have sought the opinion of medico-legal expert to ascertain whether it was a case of a suicide or murder.
The report in this regard was still awaited.