Deputy CMO death: CBI searches office of IG Jail

The CBI has carried out searches at the office of a senior official of Uttar Pradesh Prisons Department looking for the alleged suicide note recovered from the then Deputy CMO YS Sachan who was found dead inside jail premises in mysterious circumstances.

A team of senior CBI officials reached the office of Inspector General V K Gupta searching for the "original" suicide note allegedly recovered from Sachan whose body was found inside the toilet of Lucknow district jail hospital on the night of June 22.

The agency has a photocopy of the alleged suicide note but it was looking for the original draft to carry forward its forensic probe in the mysterious death of Sachan, arrested for being named as the key conspirator in the murders of two Chief Medical Officers and under charges of financial irregularities in UP's NRHM scam, agency sources said.

However, the team which was there in the office for nearly half an hour could not get the note, CBI sources said.

Later, speaking to PTI over phone, Inspector General V K Gupta said the team had come looking for the original suicide note which was discovered from Sachan but since it was not with him, he could not provide it.

"Sachan had written a note saying he was innocent and had no complaints against any jail official or the convict in jail or any of his family members. This was the only text of that thing. The photocopy of this CBI already has. They have matched the handwriting as well," Gupta said.

He said, "On day one we had said he had committed suicide. When we are saying, government is saying he had committed suicide. Why are we going to hold any document?"

"They came and they did not find anything incriminatory. They gave this in writing that they did not find anything," he said.

Nearly three months after Sachan's body was recovered from the jail premises, Gupta had reportedly given the photocopy of a suicide note purportedly written by Sachan.

CBI which is desparately looking for the elusive suicide note believes if any such note was written by Sachan, it might carry some forensic evidence which could prove to be crucial for unravelling the mystery shrouding the murder.

During questioning, a senior official of Jail department had told CBI that it was he who had found the note and handed it over to Gupta. Gupta had reportedly told the investigators that he had provided it to some senior government official, CBI sources said.

The CBI was told that the note which gives clean chit to jail officials was found in a bag carried by Sachan.

Arrested on charges of financial irregularities, Sachan, 52, was found dead inside the toilet of Lucknow district jail hospital on the night of June 22. He was also named as the key conspirator in the murder case of CMO BP Singh in April following the arrest of three shooters hired to kill him.

After Sachan's death, the government and police had initially claimed that he committed suicide. The post mortem, however, revealed nine injury marks on the body including the neck, elbows, wrists and thigh.