Jeweller death: Delhi cops dispute DRI's version

NEW DELHI: Contradicting the claims made by the department of revenue intelligence (DRI) officials in a press release immediately after Gaurav Gupta died at the department’s office that the jeweller had neither been summoned nor arrested but had come on his own, police told Delhi high court on Friday that Gupta and his father had been taken to their office at the CGO Complex on April 25 by DRI officials.
In a status report filed on the court’s order, the cops said that initial inquiry revealed the Gaurav Gupta was “taken to their office by officials of DRI for further enquiry/investigation and he was found injured on the porch of the office”.

However, DRI reiterated its stand and told the court that the two men had voluntarily requested permission to come to the DRI office after a raid to follow up on the seizures from their premises.

DRI’s status report filed before Justice Mukta Gupta also stated that a few hours later after the Guptas’ appearance, the investigating team had requested the father to accompany them back to his Shalimar Bagh home, while the son offered to stay back. Gaurav committed suicide some time later, DRI alleged, while denying its officials had ever demanded Rs 1.5 crore from the family for Gaurav’s release.

Denying the charges of murder and bribery levelled by Gupta family, DRI told the court, “Gaurav Gupta was in the visitor’s room on 6th floor around noon on April 25. He jumped through the window of the visitor's room at around noon. He was immediately rushed to Safdarjang Hospital by DRI and CISF officials. However, his life could not be saved.”

It added that “41kg of gold bars, 213kg of silver bullion and currency valued at Rs 13 crore in aggregate were recovered” from the Guptas’ home.

Meanwhile, police informed the court that a medical board of six AIIMS doctors had been constituted under the supervision of a magistrate in Saket. The autopsy of the 40-year-old jeweller was under way at the hospital. Justice Gupta, after taking on record the reports filed by DRI and Delhi Police, sought a further status report from the agencies and posted the plea for May 15. The court was hearing a petition filed by Gaurav’s mother through advocate Vijay Aggarwal, in which she sought a CBI probe into her son’s death on because he had died in “suspicious circumstances”.

The high court had on Thursday directed the police to preserve the CCTV footage from Gupta’s jewellery shop as well as from the DRI office and nearby areas. Police told the court it had seized the DVR system installed by CISF at the entry and exit gates of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Bhawan in the CGO Complex.