Suicide or murder?: The conflicting narratives around the death of arrested IAS officer’s son in Punjab

The Punjab Police finds itself in the middle of controversy with the death of an arrested IAS officer’s son.

While the police have said 27-year-old Kartik Popli, who died of bullet wounds on Saturday committed suicide, the family has alleged foul play.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened:

On Saturday, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, which had earlier this week arrested IAS officer Sanjay Popli in a graft case for allegedly demanding bribe in exchange of clearing tenders for laying a sewerage pipeline in Nawanshahr, raided his home in connection with the investigation.

The vigilance team was present at the time of the incident, a neighbour and family friend told reporters.

That much at least can be agreed upon.

What the family alleges

As per The Print, Popli, a 2008 batch IAS officer, was who arrested on corruption charges during his time as the CEO of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board and transferred as Director of Pensions in May, had been brought by the vigilance bureau to his residence for Saturday’s search.

Popli, on his way out of the hospital where he was taken for a medical check-up on Saturday evening, claimed he is an “eyewitness” to his son’s “murder”.

“They tortured my child and killed him,” claimed Shree Popli, Kartik’s mother while speaking to the media Saturday. “They also tortured my domestic help for evidence. The entire vigilance bureau and the DSP [deputy superintendent of police> are under pressure from the chief minister. This is the way they are killing people.”

Popli’s wife Shree told reporters, “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”.

“To build a false case, they snatched my son–Kartik Popli is gone,” said Sanjay Popli’s wife showing blood spots on her hands.

“I want justice. I will move court,” said the wailing woman, repeatedly crying “my son has been killed”.

“(Punjab Chief Minister) Bhagwant Mann should answer,” she said.

She said her husband Sanjay was due to appear before the court and a Vigilance team had visited their house.

“The vigilance people took Kartik upstairs and when I went up they were mentally torturing my son,” she said, while adding “even our mobile phones were snatched”.

“My son has died…,” she said.

Friends offer conflicting versions too

A 51-year-old woman, a neighbour and family friend of Popli family, alleged that “Sanjay Popli was being pressured by the vigilance that he should agree to the allegations levelled by them”.

The vigilance team was present at the time of the incident, a neighbour and family friend told reporters.

“Kartik too was detained for hours,” said the woman.

However, a family friend, in a conversation with ThePrint, has said that it appears Kartik shot himself.

However, another family friend not wishing to be named said the visits to the vigilance bureau after his father’s arrest had “really scarred” Kartik.

“He was being intimidated and he was scared that he might get implicated as a co-conspirator. On the first day that the vigilance team visited their house, Kartik had just come home from dinner with his father. He was extremely worried that he would be framed along with him. The family said that they had made his father sign on certain papers”.

The family friend added that Kartik “went up to his room, sat on his chair and shot himself. He said that his father was told by the officers that they will implicate his wife and Kartik,” as per the report.

What the police say

The police have offered conflicting versions about the presence of the Vigilance Bureau team inside the home and even the weapon used in the incident.

Chandigarh’s Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal said after verifying things it has come to fore that the 27-year-old “has shot himself”.

Further investigations are on, the SSP said, adding a licensed pistol was used in the incident.

Chahal told Indian Express that Kartik committed suicide with a licensed weapon, and that the Vigilance Bureau had “gone for some investigation, but had not entered the house, when there was this gunshot sound from inside”.

However, he previously told media that vigilance officials were in the house when the incident occurred.

Chahal also claimed that officials rushed to the room from where the sound came, and found it locked. “When we broke open the door, we found he had committed suicide,” Chahal said.

‘Didn’t enter house’

At a press conference in the evening, the Vigilance Bureau denied Kartik’s mother Sri Popli’s claims that its officials had “killed” Kartik, while claiming they had “gone back” before the incident happened.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar said they had “left” after affecting recovery from “a store in the yard (of the house)”. “The Vigilance Bureau did not enter Popli’s house.”

There are also conflicting versions about the weapon used, as per Indian Express.

A day after Popli’s arrest, the Vigilance Bureau claimed to have found “unaccounted cartridges”, reportedly not meant for any licensed weapon, during a search of his house. Popli was consequently booked under Sections of the Arms Act.

But, on Saturday after Kartik’s death, Vigilance Bureau officials involved in the investigations said the family owned a licensed weapon of 0.3 bore with 10 cartridges, which were not seized during the search as these were “legal”, as per the report.

With inputs from PTI

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