Accused in Salman house firing case found dead, kin refuse to take body, seek CBI probe

The post-mortem report of Anuj Thapan, an accused in the 14 April firing incident outside the Bandra house of actor Salman Khan, has confirmed that he died of hanging as there are ligature marks on the neck and signs of asphyxia, a Mumbai police official said on Friday.

Later in the day, his kin refused to accept the body, claiming Thapan was "tortured and murdered", and sought a CBI probe.

Thapan, who was arrested from Punjab along with his associate Sonu Bishnoi on 26 April and is accused of supplying firearms and bullets for the firing incident, was found dead in the crime branch lock-up at the commissionerate complex in Mumbai's Crawford Market on Wednesday.

He had allegedly hanged himself with a bedsheet in the lock-up toilet, the police said. "The post mortem was conducted on Thursday evening in the state-run J.J. Hospital in Byculla. As per the report, there are ligature marks on the neck and signs of asphyxia, all of which confirm that he died of hanging," the police official said.

The doctors who conducted the post mortem have reserved their opinions, while the deceased's viscera, tissue and other samples have been preserved for forensic and chemical analyses and organs for histopathology, he said.

"Footage from the lock-up CCTV shows Thapan going into the toilet alone. It is a clear cut case of suicide," another official said.

Meanwhile, Thapan's maternal grandfather Jashwant Singh, two relatives and lawyers, who arrived in Mumbai in the early hours of the day from Punjab, refused to claim his body and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.

"We were asked to claim the body. On our request, when the hospital staff showed us his face, we found ligature marks on the neck. Seeing these marks, we are sure he was murdered after being tortured," Singh said.

"We will not accept the body until our demand (for a CBI probe) is met. If it is accepted, then we will claim the body by tomorrow. There must be a CBI probe and police personnel involved in the death must be punished," Singh added.

The police had called the family at 3.00 pm on Wednesday to tell them about Thapan's death, Singh said.

Four persons — Thapan, Bishnoi, and shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta — have been arrested in connection with the firing incident, while gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused, the police said.