Vyapam scam: No foul play suspected in dean's death, say police

A medical board on Monday conducted an autopsy on the body of the dean of Jabalpur Medical College, a day after he was found dead in a hotel under mysterious circumstances even as Delhi Police chief B S Bassi said no foul play could be suspected as per initial probe.

The police commissioner said investigators were probing various angles in the case "notwithstanding" the initial reports.

There has been growing outrage over deaths of people linked to multi-crore Vyapam scam or its probe.

Dr Arun Sharma, Dean of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur who was probing fake examinees in the Vyapam scam, was found dead in a hotel on Sunday.

"No foul play could be suspected as per prima facie evidence," Bassi said replying to a volley of questions about investigation into Sharma's death.

The postmortem on Sharma's body was conducted by the three-member expert panel at the Safdarjung hospital. His body is being taken to Jabalpur by his family.

The police commissioner said investigators have inspected the hotel room in Dwarka where 64-year-old Sharma was found dead and CCTV footage was also being scanned.

"Our crime team had inspected the site where the incident took place and a CFSL team had done the same. So no evidence went unnoticed," he told reporters.

He said that police was in touch with Sharma's family as well for background check to make sure that there were no shortcomings in the investigation.

"We are in touch with the family of the deceased to see whether there are possibilities of foul play. We want to assure everyone that Delhi police will leave no stone unturned to bring out the truth," he said.

Sharma's death came to light a day after an investigative journalist with a leading Delhi-based news channel died under mysterious circumstances soon after he had interviewed parents of a girl found dead after her name figured in the scandal.